130th MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST REGULAR SESSION-2021
Legislative Document No. 583
H.P. 426 House of Representatives, February 24, 2021
An Act To Repeal the Changes Made by Public Law 2019, Chapter
478, "An Act To Promote Solar Energy Projects and Distributed
Generation Resources in Maine"
Received by the Clerk of the House on February 22, 2021. Referred to the Committee on
Energy, Utilities and Technology pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative HANLEY of Pittston.
Cosponsored by Senator FARRIN of Somerset.
Printed on recycled paper
 1 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2 Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §3201, sub-§11-A, as enacted by PL 2019, c. 478, Pt. A, §1,
3 is repealed.
4 Sec. 2. 35-A MRSA §3201, sub-§13-A, as enacted by PL 2019, c. 478, Pt. A, §2,
5 is repealed.
6 Sec. 3. 35-A MRSA §3209-A, as amended by PL 2019, c. 16, §1 and c. 478, Pt. A,
7 §3, is further amended to read:
8 §3209-A. Net energy billing
9 The commission may adopt or amend rules governing net energy billing. Rules adopted
10 or amended under this section are major substantive rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375,
11 subchapter 2‑A. "Net energy billing" means a billing and metering practice under which a
12 customer is billed on the basis of the difference between the kilowatt-hours delivered by a
13 transmission and distribution utility to the customer over a billing period and the kilowatt-
14 hours delivered by the customer to the transmission and distribution utility over the billing
15 period, taking into account accumulated unused kilowatt-hour credits from the previous
16 billing period.
17 1. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms have the following
18 meanings.
19 A. "Customer" means a customer of a transmission and distribution utility in the State.
20 B. "Distributed generation resource" means an electric generating facility that uses a
21 renewable fuel or technology under section 3210, subsection 2, paragraph B‑3 and is
22 located in the service territory of a transmission and distribution utility in the State.
23 C. "Net energy billing" means a billing and metering practice under which a customer
24 is billed on the basis of the difference between the kilowatt‑hours delivered by a
25 transmission and distribution utility to the customer over a billing period and the
26 kilowatt‑hours delivered by the customer to the transmission and distribution utility
27 over the billing period, taking into account accumulated unused kilowatt‑hour credits
28 from the previous billing period.
29 2. Financial interest required. The commission shall allow a customer to participate
30 in net energy billing if the customer has a financial interest in a distributed generation
31 resource or in a generation resource that has a net energy billing arrangement on the
32 effective date of this section, including facility ownership, a lease agreement or a power
33 purchase agreement.
34 3. Shared financial interest for investor-owned utility customers; limitation.
35 Multiple customers of an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility that have
36 distinct billing accounts with that utility may share a financial interest in a distributed
37 generation resource under subsection 2. Any number of customers of an investor-owned
38 transmission and distribution utility with a shared financial interest in a distributed
39 generation resource may participate in net energy billing, except that the number of eligible
40 customers or meters is limited to 10 for a shared financial interest in a distributed generation
41 resource located in the service territory of an investor-owned transmission and distribution
42 utility located in an area administered by the independent system administrator for northern
43 Maine or any successor of the independent system administrator for northern Maine unless
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1 the commission determines that the utility's billing system can accommodate more than 10
45
2 accounts or meters for the purpose of net energy billing.
3 4. System size. The nameplate capacity of a distributed generation resource that may
4 be used for net energy billing must be less than 5 megawatts, except that, if a municipality
5 is the customer participating in net energy billing, the nameplate capacity of a distributed
6 generation resource located in that municipality that may be used for the net energy billing
7 may be 5 megawatts or more, as long as less than 5 megawatts of metered electricity from
8 the resource is used for net energy billing.
9 Sec. 4. 35-A MRSA §3209-B, as enacted by PL 2019, c. 478, Pt. A, §4 and
10 corrected by RR 2019, c. 1, Pt. A, §51, is repealed.
11 Sec. 5. 35-A MRSA c. 34-C, as amended, is repealed.
12 Sec. 6. PL 2019, c. 478, Pt. A, §5 is repealed.
13 Sec. 7. PL 2019, c. 478, Pt. A, §6 is repealed.
14 Sec. 8. PL 2019, c. 478, Pt. A, §7 is repealed.
15 Sec. 9. PL 2019, c. 478, Pt. B, §2 is repealed.
16 Sec. 10. PL 2019, c. 478, Pt. B, §3 is repealed.
17 SUMMARY
18 This bill repeals the changes to statutory law made by Public Law 2019, chapter 478
19 and repeals related provisions of chapter 478.
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Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 583, HP 426: 35-A.3201, 35-A.3209