Solar for ME

Solar Power for Maine People

Solar power advocates rally against Central Maine Power’s rate proposal

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Solar power advocates rally against Central Maine Power’s rate proposal
Staff photo by Andy Molloy FIGHT THE POWER: Supporters of solar energy put on yellow t-shirts Wednesday outside of the Public Utility Commissions offices in Hallowell before a hearing for Central Maine Power’s request for a rate increase. About two dozen people attended the gathering.

HALLOWELL — Around two dozen solar power proponents rallied outside the Maine Public Utility Commission office Wednesday to protest proposed electricity rate changes they say will discourage individuals from investing in renewable energy sources.

Most rally attendees donned yellow “Solar for ME” t-shirts handed out by members of out-of-state advocacy groups before filing into the building for the public hearing on the proposed changes.

Advocates and users of renewable energy — from homeowners with solar panels to larger institutions such as private colleges and the Brunswick Landing business park — have objected to a portion of Central Maine Power Co.’s proposed new rate plan that would levy a charge for customers who generate their own power.

CMP also is trying to raise the fixed monthly fees it charges residential and small business customers, while lowering the variable price charged for electricity.

Story by Paul Koenig for the Kennebec Journal.  More at: http://www.kjonline.com/news/Solar_power_advocates_rally_against_Central_Maine_Power_s_rate_proposal_.html

CMP wants Mainers who generate their own power to pay more

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CMP+vs+Solar+Maine
Thomas College student Scarlett Stevens walks past a sign about the solar energy that comes from the panels covering the Alfond Athletic Center at the Waterville campus March 10. Central Maine Power has informed customers that produce their own energy that rates will increase on power supplied by the electricity company.
David Leaming/Morning Sentinel

Central Maine Power Co. wants customers that generate some of their own electricity from renewable sources to pay higher monthly service charges, but the idea is being challenged as an attack on Maine’s renewable-energy industry.

CMP says its plan would help cover the overall cost of service while keeping such customers on the grid even if they don’t need power all the time. Advocates of solar and wind power say the so-called standby charge would kill the economics of investing in renewable generation and run counter to the state’s policy of encouraging renewable energy development.

The charges would have “a devastating impact” on colleges that are committed to promoting sustainability, said Laurie Lachance, president of Thomas College in Waterville.

In 2012, the college had a 12,600-square-foot solar-electric array installed on its athletic center. The system is designed to supply 11 percent of the school’s electricity. CMP’s proposal would add $38,000 to the college’s bill over five years, a 56 percent increase, Lachance said.

Coverage by Tux Turkel of the Portland Press Herald.  More at: http://www.pressherald.com/news/CMP_wants_Maine_self-generators_who_feed_grid_using_solar__wind_to_pay_more_.html

Battle over CMP’s rate proposal pits profits against renewable advocates

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Battle over CMP's rate proposal pits profits against renewable advocates
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION / MATT SELVA

Steve Levesque, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, has spent the better part of three years pitching Brunswick Landing as the epicenter of an emerging clean energy market in Maine and is nearly ready to seal a deal with a company that intends to build an anaerobic digester at the former Navy base. Until recently, he had no inkling that goal also would put Brunswick Landing in a high-stakes policy battle with Central Maine Power Co.

But that’s where he finds himself, joining more than a dozen trade, environmental and renewable energy groups that have filed with the Maine Public Utilities Commission as intervenors in CMP’s Alternative Rate Plan 2014 proposal. The plan sets rates for residential and small business customers over the next five years.

At issue is a CMP proposal to base the distribution part of its bill on fixed costs rather than customers’ usage. The rub for opponents of CMP’s plan is a surcharge, or standby rate, that would be charged to customers with on-site power generation who still need access to the grid. Customers such as the company proposing to build the anaerobic digester at Brunswick Landing, which would need access to the grid if their on-site power generation goes down, expect the standby rate could cost in the thousands annually.

“It certainly has the potential of making our Renewable Energy Center unfeasible,” says Levesque. “It’s pretty expensive as is to generate power through renewable sources. If we had an additional charge …, it’s very likely we couldn’t pass that on to our tenants. No one would come here. Our combined rate would be too expensive.”

Reported by James McCarthy for Mainebiz.  More at: http://www.mainebiz.biz/article/20140224/CURRENTEDITION/302209999