Electrical Costs

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The electricity market is a unique industry in Maine because it underpins almost every business in the State.  It is the largest input for many firms, both in traditional and new economies.  One of the best ways Maine could help its economic growth is by creating a competitive advantage in terms of lower energy inputs.  We were very close in 2023, and we need to continue to make changes large and small moving in the right direction.

There is an expression 'snatching defeat from the jaws of victory', and that is how I would describe the vote in 2023.  First many people when I know on their doors do not seem to understand what they were voting on in 2023.  One of my proposals is a proposal to make citizens initiative easier to read.

The proposal that year would have bought the transmission, and generation in the State and formed a Co-Op.  

The only other State in the union to do this is Nebraska, and if you look at their electrical rates, it is clear why this is a good choice.  Even compared to the cohort of other Midwestern states it is 30% cheaper.

Same can be said for Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) versus Commercial electricity next door.  We can see the model working right here in Kennebunk.  As owners of the grid and generation Maine can move to cleaner energy and keep costs constrained.

I will fully support making a Co-op for Maine residents, and businesses.

One clarification I would like to make.  There is a huge difference between creating a Co-op or municipilization, and Community Choice Aggregation (CCA).  

A cooperative is good at lowering costs over time because you own the whole process and you have removed the corporate rent (profit) seekers from the equation.  

Community Choice Aggregation is good at delivering clean power to an area quickly where costs are no object.  That is why CCA works in very rich zip codes like Martha's Vineyard, MA, and Marin, CA.  With this model the State would buy the generation, and the power company still does the transmission, billing, and crucially profit margin.  That is why it actually increases prices.

Newfield, Shapleigh, and Springvale, and most of the rest of Maine, cannot afford the luxury that coastal view democrats in wealthy communities are trying to pass off as energy reforms. 

The way Maine has set up net metering, for both residential and commercial solar projects unfairly burdens the rest of the customers in Maine.  The system sets up this false idea that solar power is cheaper because the expenses are dispersed to all rate payers.  Here is what is happening and how we should change it.

Commercial (Large-scale) solar projects:  Currently (though legislation is pending) large scale solar farms are able to sell to utility companies at an artificially inflated rate (that is above the market rate).  And the utility companies are allowed to  pass those additional costs on to rate payers.  So the system is best set up to help the solar farmers.  

I would propose that:

• Solar farms are paid a wholesale rate like other power generators.
• Large scale solar and wind (any variable renewable source) MUST have co-located battery storage.
• Clean up are fully funded at the project outset.

Residential Solar:  Right now the Maine residential energy credit system is an overly convoluted way to 'bank' credits that can be used later.  The problem is that these credits are at a retail rate, not a wholesale rate.  Which means it costs more for a utility to get power from a residential panel than from other sources.  It also means that there is additional transmission and accounting that is borne by all rate payers.  Again this seems to be a set up that favors the distribution of solar panels with a subsidy of all rate payers.  

I would propose changes to this system to:

• Replace the net metering system with a straight wholesale rate sale to utility companies
• Not break any current contracts (Maine is already hard enough to do business in, without changing the rules mid contract)
• Researching ways to help residential battery installations where needed.  Bulk buying, tax credits, or other financial incentives.