AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine House of Representatives shifted course Tuesday on how to pare back the state’s generous solar subsidies that have driven utility rate hikes.
The House and Senate initially appeared to be heading down the path of backing a bill from Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-Eliot, to slightly rein in Maine’s net energy billing program, which lets customers offset electricity bills using the output from small renewable generators.
Lawrence’s bill, supported by the solar industry and Gov. Janet Mills, would allow Maine to seek federal dollars to fuel continued growth of the industry and let firms choose whether to accept state subsidies.
But after both chambers passed the bill last week, the House voted 69-62 to not enact it Monday, lowering its chances of getting to Gov. Janet Mills’ desk. Twenty members were absent for that vote, but after Rep. Terry, D-Gorham, moved to reconsider it, another attempt to pass it with a few more members present still failed by a 76-63 margin.
On Tuesday, the House instead approved in a 92-51 vote an amended bill from Rep. Steven Foster, R-Dexter, that is backed by Maine’s public advocate and manufacturers. The bill, which now goes to the Senate, would allow the Maine Public Utilities Commission to propose subsidy adjustments.
The energy-related fight comes as the utilities commission approved earlier in June an estimated $135.7 million in annual rate hikes that start Saturday and last through mid-2024, driven by the existing solar policies.
The debate over the two bills has not been strictly partisan, with Public Advocate William Harwood, a Mills appointee, supporting Foster’s bill. The solar industry has invoked former Gov. Paul LePage’s legacy of opposing solar projects in ads and attacked Harwood after he estimated in April that subsidies dating back to 2019 could cost $220 million a year by 2025 and that increases could continue for two decades.
Rep. Sophie Warren, D-Scarborough, and Sen. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, also support Foster’s plan and put forward late amendments to it.
The amended version, among various changes, would have Foster’s bill no longer take effect immediately, increase the size of net energy billing projects from 660 kilowatts to 1 megawatt, require a certain amount of generation to be used by consumers in order to be eligible and double the number of customers allowed to participate in small community solar projects from 10 to 20.
“Although the changes reduce some of the ratepayer savings in my bill by maybe a few hundred thousand dollars, I felt it worthwhile to get something through that will provide substantial savings to Maine ratepayers,” Foster told the Bangor Daily News.
While the solar industry and other supporters of Lawrence’s bill have said no one truly knows yet how much either proposal could save, Foster reiterated Tuesday his plan could cut costs for ratepayers by at least 20 percent.
“The other choice reduces nothing off that amount,” Foster said on the House floor, referring to Lawrence’s bill. “It just rearranges the deck chairs.”
But solar interests and other opponents to Foster’s bill have argued it would allow the utilities commission to enact sudden subsidy changes that could lead to loan defaults, litigation and less investment in Maine.
“When I talk to Maine solar energy companies, when I talk to environmental organizations who are deeply concerned about climate change in this state, what I hear from them is that this bill does not do what we’re hearing it does today,” Rep. Valli Geiger, D-Rockland, said. “…Instead, it throws the baby out with the bathwater.”
