Community solar companies across Maine sued the Public Utilities Commission Monday, attempting to block the implementation of a new law designed to reduce the impact of solar development subsidies on the state’s electricity customers.
A group of 11 companies are claiming the law, which modifies Maine’s long-fought-over net energy billing program, violates their constitutional rights.
The law, passed earlier this year, restructured the program, including by creating a monthly charge for some community solar projects based on their size. Those charges could range from $2,800 to $30,000, depending on how much electricity a given system is capable of producing, and are designed to offset the distribution costs that could otherwise fall to ratepayers.
But the community solar companies claim it would cause “immediate and irreparable harm” to their businesses and are asking for a preliminary injunction before Jan. 1, when the new law is slated to take effect.
Specifically, the companies argue that a new project charge would violate a clause in the Fifth Amendment that prohibits the government from taking private property for public use without just compensation.
“The character of the government action is akin to a physical taking, because the government is essentially devaluing the electrons — themselves physical property — generated by the regulated (generators),” attorneys for the group argued in the 97-page filing.
They added that the new law would devalue the solar companies’ property, both in terms of generation facilities themselves and the land on which they sit.
They also argue that the law violates the Constitution’s contracts clause, which prohibits the government from creating laws that would undermine private groups’ abilities to fulfill contracts.
The new fees and modified cost structure could result in some projects defaulting, the plaintiffs said.
Jeff Cramer, president of the Coalition for Community Solar Access, a trade group the companies are members of, said the law’s implementation would “send a chilling signal” to businesses seeking to invest in clean energy in Maine.
“When a state retroactively changes the rules on projects already operating and serving customers, it tells investors, lenders, and developers that the state cannot be trusted to provide a reliable, rational business climate for future investment,” Cramer said in a written statement.
The Maine Office of the Public Advocate forecast that the new law would save electricity customers about $1.2 billion over the next 16 years. The existing net billing law is currently forecast to cost Mainers — including those who do not participate — more than $230 million this year, according to the public advocate.
A spokesperson for the utilities commission said its attorneys had just received and were still reviewing the lawsuit after 4 p.m., referring questions to the Maine Office of the Attorney General. A spokesperson for the AG’s office said they were unable to confirm whether it is representing the utilities commission in this case.
