AUGUSTA, Maine — Solar subsidies and storms will drive another round of electric rate hikes hitting most Mainers on July 1, though the effects will differ depending on where you live. One of the culprits is the rising cost of long-controversial solar subsidies that have been a hotly debated topic in Augusta since they passed in 2019. They led to a boom in projects, but Public Advocate William Harwood said last year they will cost ratepayers $220 million by 2025 .
As of July 1, Maine will be about 60 percent of the way there. Customers of Central Maine Power Co. and Versant Power, the state’s two largest utilities, will bear $130 million in costs due to the net energy billing program from July 2024 to July 2025, Harwood said this week after energy regulators approved the latest round of rate hikes hitting at the first of next month.
Those costs are a major factor in the overall increases hitting ratepayers next month, though they are not the only ones. The most dramatic increase will be for CMP customers, who will see the typical monthly bill rise by 12.6 percent to $138.
76 per month. For Versant customers, bills will increase by $6.99 in Aroostook County and drop slightly in the Bangor region.
For those CMP customers, about two-thirds of the monthly increase of $15.56 is due to rising distribution costs after the company’s coastal service area got whacked by windstorms in December and January. Those charges are not changing much in Versant territory.
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