Maine people were promised a 15% discount when they paid for community solar generation. Now, customers are complaining that the 15% savings isn’t happening. Community solar billing is a complicated process that is described in a 2019 law, and the billing process is the root cause of the difference between customer expectations and reality. This is how community solar works for me.

A community solar customer pays two bills, one for solar generation and one for electric usage. The community solar bill calculates a price for an assigned number of kilowatt hours generated and then takes a 15% discount. The electric bill is more complicated. First, the electric company charges for line usage, which currently costs $31.55. Second, the month’s generated kilowatt hours are applied to the bill. Any excess generated kilowatt hours are banked. Any remaining kilowatt hours on the electric bill come from the banked generation or are charged to the customer.

Customers can determine savings by computing the average cost per kilowatt hour over a year. The best 12-month period showed a per- kilowatt-hour savings of 15.94%. The savings will trend downward with my new heat pump and increased electric usage. As a general rule, when we increase usage, without increasing generation, our savings will go down, so an adjustment of allocated generation is needed.

While I wait for the adjustment, I have seen my savings in propane expenditures offset the increases in my electric bills, and I am getting better quality heat.

Peter Konieczko
Scarborough