An Act Regarding Solar Power for Farms and Businesses
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 1504
Committee Amendment CA_A_S276 (Senate)
Amends: 35-A MRSA §3209, 35-A MRSA §3209-A

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A " to S.P. 529, L.D. 1504, Bill, "An Act 
Regarding Solar Power for Farms and Businesses" 
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following: 
'An Act To Modernize Rates for Small-scale Distributed Generation' 
Amend the bill by striking out eveiything after the enacting clause and before the 
summaiy and inse11ing the following: 
'Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §3209, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 316, §3, is 
amended to read: 
3. Exit fees. A customer who significantly reduces or eliminates consumption of 
electricity due to self-generation, conversion to an alternative fuel or demand-side 
management may not be assessed an exit or reent1y fee in any form for the reduction or 
elimination of consumption or reestablishment of service with a transmission and 
distribution utility, including any fee for transmission or distribution service relating to 
the energy or demand supplied by the customer's own generation. 
Sec. 2. 35-A MRSA §3209-A, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 262, §1, is repealed and 
the following enacted in its place: 
§3209-A. Net energy billing 
An eligible customer may elect net energy billing for the customer's accounts or 
meters in accordance with this section. 
1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings. 
A. 
"Eligible customer" means a person or an entity that takes electricity service 
through a transmission and distribution utility and that owns or has an interest in an 
eligible facility located in that transmission and distribution utility's service territ01y. 
B. 
"Eligible facility" means an electric generating facility that meets eligibility 
requirements established by the commission by rule. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to S.P. 529, L.D. 1504 
C. "Gross output" means all of the energy generated by an eligible facility during an 
applicable period, including all energy that is used to offset the usage of customers. 
D. "Net energy" means the difference between the kilowatt-hours delivered by the 
transmission and distribution utility to an eligible customer over a billing period and 
the kilowatt-hours exported by the customer from an eligible facility to the 
transmission and distribution system over the same billing period. 
E. "Net energy billing" means a billing and metering practice under which eligible 
customers are billed on the basis of net energy over the billing period taking into 
account accumulated unused kilowatt-hour credits from the previous billing period. 
F. 
"Shared interest" means an interest in an eligible facility shared by multiple 
eligible customers that have distinct billing accounts with a transmission and 
distribution utility. 
G. 
"Transmission and distribution bill" means an eligible customer's bill, over a 
billing period, for transmission and distribution utility service. 
2. Prohibition on gross output. A transmission and distribution utility may not 
require an eligible customer to meter the gross output of an eligible facility in order to 
pmticipate in net energy billing. 
3. Limit on accounts. The number of eligible customers that participate in a single 
shared interest in an eligible facility or the number of meters associated with a single 
shared interest in an eligible facility may not exceed 200, except that the number of 
eligible customers or meters is limited to 10 for a shared interest in an eligible facility 
located in the service territmy of a transmission and distribution utility located in an area 
administered by the independent system administrator for northern Maine or any 
successor of the independent system administrator for northern Maine unless the 
commission determines that the utility's billing system can accommodate more than 10 
accounts or meters for the purpose of net energy billing. 
4. 
Rules. 
The commission shall adopt rules governing net energy billing to 
implement this section. The rules must require that, until December 31, 2021, 100% of an 
eligible customer's net energy applies to that customer's transmission and distribution bill. 
Rules adopted or amended under this section are routine technical rules as defined in Title 
5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
Sec. 3. Report. The Public Utilities Commission shall submit a report to the joint 
standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over utilities and energy 
matters by Janumy 1, 2021 that includes recommendations on how to transition from net 
energy billing as governed by the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 3209-A to 
time-of-use rates, market-based rates or other rate designs. The commission shall submit 
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information in its report on how its recommendations: 
1. Promote distributed energy resources while suppo1ting equitable treatment of all 
customers and application of cost causation principles in rate design; 
2. Integrate distributed energy resources to increase efficiency of the electric grid 
while reducing costs for all ratepayers; 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to S.P. 529, L.D. 1504 
3. 
Use the capabilities of advance metering investments by transmission and 
distribution utilities to track exp01is to the grid and usage and to provide actionable price 
signals to all customers, including those with distributed energy resources; and 
4. 
Encourage integration and compensation for small-scale distributed energy 
resources in the regional markets. 
The Public Utilities Commission shall conduct an analysis of the costs and benefits to 
ratepayers from net energy billing in an adjudicat01y proceeding. The analysis must 
include all identifiable costs and benefits for net energy billing participants and 
nonpatiicipants, including but not limited to the costs and benefits described in Public 
Law 2013, chapter 562, section 2. The analysis must at a minimum look at costs and 
benefits over a 10-year period and a 25-year period. Where unce1iainty exists with regard 
to a future cost or benefit, the commission shall use assumptions for what it considers the 
most likely higher and lower value scenarios. For any recommendation made in the 
report, the commission shall quantify or estimate how the recommendation would 
increase or decrease costs to ratepayers over both the sh01i term and the long tenn and 
how it is likely to affect solar installations. The commission shall address how the 
recommendation compares to the current net energy billing practice in terms of ratepayer 
impacts and the rate at which customer-sited solar photovoltaic installations are occurring 
in the State. 
In looking at rate design options, the commission, in consultation with solar 
installers, transmission and distribution utilities, the Governor's Energy Office and the 
Public Advocate, shall compile the best available data on the energy production from 
customer-sited solar photovoltaic installations or other distributed generation resources in 
this State and on electricity usage by customers with customer-sited solar photovoltaic 
installations or other distributed generation resources. 
The joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over utilities and 
energy matters may rep01i out legislation based on the recommendations to the First 
Regular Session of the 130th Legislature. 
Sec. 4. Rule. The Public Utilities Commission shall amend its net energy billing 
rule before Janumy l, 2018 to be consistent with the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, 
section 3209-A.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment is the majority repoti of the committee, and it replaces the bill. It 
does the following regarding net energy billing: 
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1. It requires a net energy billing customer to receive 100% of the net energy of an 
eligible facility for the customer's transmission and distribution bill until December 31, 
2021; 
2. It prohibits a transmission and distribution utility from requiring a customer to 
meter the gross output of an eligible facility in order to patiicipate in net energy billing; 
3. It limits to 200 the number of eligible customers that may participate in a single 
shared interest in an eligible facility or the number of meters associated with a single 
shared interest, except in the service territ01y of a transmission and distribution utility 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A "to S.P. 529, L.D. 1504 
I 
located in an area administered by the independent system administrator for northern 
Maine; and 
4. It requires the Public Utilities Commission to amend its cmTent net energy billing 
rules before Januaiy I, 2018 to be consistent with the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, 
section 3209-A. 
This amendment also requires the Public Utilities Commission to submit a report by 
Janumy I, 2021 that includes recommendations on how to transition from net energy 
billing to time-of-use rates, market-based rates or other rate design options. In its report, 
the commission must include info1mation regarding an analysis of costs and benefits of 
net energy billing, which it is required to conduct in an adjudicat01y proceeding, as well 
as how those costs and benefits compare to any recommendations the commission makes 
in this repo1i. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Approved: 06/12/17 feac 
LD 1504 
LR 1367(02) 
An Act Regarding Solar Power for Farms and Businesses 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment 'JJ.." 
Committee: Energy, Utilities and Technology 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - Other Special Revenue Funds 
Any additional costs to the Public Utilities Commission as a result of modifications to the laws regarding net energy 
billing and requiring that the Commission repmi on certain aspects of net energy billing are anticipated to be minor 
and can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources. 
LRl367(02) - Fiscal Note - Page I of I