Myth Busting the Utility Narrative on Solar & Net Energy Billing

Myth-Busting Utility Narratives about Solar and Net Energy Billing (NEB)

In picking apart misinformation spreading about NEB and its impact on energy bills, it’s important to understand that the monopoly investor-owned utility model is built around spending money because the investors are guaranteed a return on that investment. Anything that prevents investing money on new infrastructure threatens this investor-driven business model. 

The utilities in Maine cannot own small-scale distributed clean energy generation - such as rooftop and community-owned solar - and do not profit from the benefits these projects bring to all ratepayers. Distributed energy projects built under NEB pay for grid upgrades on the local distribution grid and suppress peak demand, thus reducing the justification utilities have to invest in large-scale transmission lines. In essence, distributed energy projects avoid the need for expensive transmission upgrades, and the utilities don’t like that because the more money they spend on infrastructure, the larger the return for their investors. 

Consequently, the utilities have and will continue to allocate resources, spread misinformation, and slow the clean energy transition to ensure the status quo. The utilities have millions of dollars of return to their investors on the line. A coordinated misinformation campaign is currently underway throughout this country in which utility companies are blaming solar for rising electricity prices. However, this claim is false. Electric rates are rising across the county, but these rate increases are due to the need to upgrade an outdated, aging grid. For example, in Maine, recent ratemaking cases show this connection between the most significant rate increases and distribution and transmission costs associated with upgrading and maintaining the very old electrical grid. Furthermore, increasingly frequent and intense storms caused by climate change are exacerbating the costs associated with maintaining and repairing the aging grid. 

The need to upgrade aging infrastructure exists independent of solar adoption. In fact, in many cases, net energy billing customers end up covering upgrades that simultaneously support interconnection and improved infrastructure around the solar installation, deferring those costs from ratepayers. Utilities and lobbyists argue that NEB is an overly generous subsidy for rich solar users and out-of-state developers who don’t need it. They claim that NEB burdens non-solar ratepayers with extra costs. However, we know this is false. In 2022 the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee of the Maine Legislature tasked the Maine Public Utilities Commission with providing annual reports on the net energy billing program’s cost and the benefits of distributed generation. Last year’s report showed that in 2023 alone, net energy billing provided nearly $30 million more in benefits than costs.

Ratepayers deserve to be correctly informed by entities that are prioritizing the well-being of ratepayers, not the bank accounts of investors. We don’t want to be misled into advocating against our best interests.