After decades of development and changes in state laws and regulations, the sun is coming up on a new day of solar power in Maine. Some Mainers may not know they can lock in guaranteed savings on their CMP bill by signing up for a local community solar project.
Clean energy has never been easier to access with community solar — it allows anyone with an electricity bill to benefit from clean energy, instead of just property owners who can install panels on their roofs. Joining a community solar project is also one of the few ways to exercise some independence in the state’s electric market.
Here’s how it works
Community solar owners invest in the construction of a solar farm. There’sone currently open for sign-ups in Lebanon, Maine.When you sign up, you’re provided with enough panels to meet the electricity needs of your home. Given the size of these projects, they only have space for a few hundred households. Enrollment is typically based on a first-come, first-serve basis. Once projects are full, residents would need to wait until another one turns online, which can sometimes be a wait of many months or even a year.
When enrolled in community solar, your utility electricity bill will decrease based on the energy produced by your panels. Then, you pay the community solar owner for 85% of the reduction in your electricity bill — which is how they stay in business. This results in a 15% discount for you.
Common questions
Some of the top follow-up questions people have are around the sign-up agreement. The Lebanon project has a 20-year term, which establishes a period that you are guaranteed savings, but still provides the ability to cancel at any time without fees. In other words, participating leads to a guaranteed benefit without a long-term commitment.
People also ask how to find the best community solar provider. Our recommendation – pick the company you trust. While the discount offered is largely the same across different providers, there are large differences in customer service and the user-friendliness of each service. Of all the providers in Maine, we found that PowerMarket had the highest-rated Google reviews. Additionally, we liked how they publicize the different projects available prior to starting the enrollment. Their enrollment process is easy and intuitive, and throughout, their team provides clear details about what to expect as a subscriber.
At the moment, the only tradeoff is the two-step billing process, where you get your discounted utility bill with your solar energy credits, then pay a separate bill for those credits at a discount. Despite receiving another bill for your electricity, all subscribers will save in this program. And fortunately, all of this can be set up quickly on a platform like PowerMarket, which represents the Lebanon project and 17 others in Maine. It has a simple dashboard to monitor your savings as well as your environmental impact.
According to the Governor’s Office, the total amount of solar produced in Maine last year was enough to power 130,000 homes. That’s a 6,000 percent increase since 2015. Community solar programs have been a big part of this growth and now account for more than a third of the state’s total capacity.
Many Mainers are making the changes it takes to reduce pollution and invest in solar power. If you are imagining a clean-energy future or just want to save money on your electric bill, it’stime to sign up for community solartoday.
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