March 31st, 2023
By
Mehr Sher
Electricity costs to increase more than expected due to
community solar farms
Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN
![](images/images_04_03_2023/pic4.jpg)
Mainers with lower incomes will bear the burden of electricity costs
that are expected to increase in the coming years due to the state’s
efforts to boost community solar development.
Mainers are
already paying high costs for power, but now they can expect to pay
even more once incentives for community solar programs get tacked onto
their electricity bills starting July 1.
The costs being factored into electricity bills for purchasing power
from community solar projects are projected to be even higher than
what utility companies previously expected,
based on estimates shared with the Bangor Daily News on
Friday. Maine’s biggest utilities, Versant Power and Central Maine
Power, said the anticipated cost increases are largely a result of
generous incentives approved by the Maine Legislature to boost
community solar development.Community solar, which is one of several
forms of solar development in Maine, allows people who subscribe to a
small-scale solar farm to reduce their electricity bill. But the cost
savings granted to subscribers are paid for by all other utility
customers who don’t participate.
Solar developers believe that there are long-term benefits of
community solar programs: that they will diversify energy sources and
therefore help lower costs, help the state transition toward clean
energy and enable infrastructure upgrades to an aging
grid.
But community solar developers are receiving higher-than-expected
rates for their power because the Legislature tied the price of this
power to fossil fuel-derived electricity rates. The cost to generate
solar power is actually far lower than what developers are paid.
“These increases will affect everyone,” said Judy Long, the
communications manager for Versant Power. “The increases are beyond
our control and are based on the price of the power that we are paying
versus what the cost of the power actually is.”
The cost increases will be factored into what are called stranded
costs, or the costs to purchase power from developers.
Starting in July, Versant Power, which serves 164,000 customers in
five counties in eastern and northern Maine, projects that an average
customer who uses 500 kilowatts of power could pay an additional $15 a
month in stranded costs. For the utility’s customers in the north, in
Aroostook County and a small part of Penobscot County, the costs are
expected to increase $11 a month, Long said.
The total increase for all its customers, based on the latest
estimates, is $55.1 million. Versant Power attributes two-thirds of
this increase to community solar programs, Long said.
Earlier this month, Versant Power had projected an increase of $12 a
month for its customers in the north and $5 for all other customers.
Central Maine Power, which serves more than 653,000 customers in
central and southern Maine, is projecting an increase of $9.02 per
month for an average customer, based on the documents it filed Friday
with the Maine Public Utilities Commission. The total increase for all
its customers is approximately $166 million.
Two-thirds of the expected increase for CMP customers can be
attributed to community solar farms, according to Central Maine Power.
CMP had previously expected adding approximately $4 to $5 in stranded
costs to customers’ bills.
The rates for stranded costs have to be approved by the Maine Public
Utilities Commission before July 1. They are anticipated to continue
going up as more community solar farms start operating by 2024.
If all of the more than 750 community solar projects come online, they
are estimated to cost ratepayers more than $270 million per year,
according to the Maine Office of the Public Advocate, which represents
consumers. That’s more than $330 per year, on average, for customers
of Versant Power and Central Maine Power.
Power bills have already been increasing with the high costs of fossil
fuels and the war in Ukraine, but the cost to offset community solar
incentives is further driving up how much Mainers pay in power bills.
“This is really unfortunate to ratepayers who are struggling, and it
will keep causing a lot of pain and hardship with ratepayers,
especially those with lower income,” said Bill Harwood, the Maine
public advocate, who represents consumers.
Green Play Ammonia™, Yielder® NFuel Energy.
Spokane, Washington. 99212
www.exactrix.com
509 995 1879 cell, Pacific.
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