With the signing of LD 2112 on April 13 by Governor Janet Mills, Maine became the newest addition to a growing list of states that empower local governments to purchase electricity on behalf of their residents through community choice aggregation (CCA) programs.
The bill establishes general guidelines for CCAs and requires the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to develop rules for how a municipality or group of municipalities may establish a CCA.
By pooling the electric demand of a community, CCAs secure bulk-purchase power supply agreements, often resulting in lower rates and a significantly higher percentage of renewable energy than is available through the traditional standard offer service.
In addition, CCAs tend to enable the procurement of renewable energy. A 2019 study by NREL and UCLA found that CCAs in states they studied procured over three times more renewable energy than mandated by their respective states’ renewable portfolio standard laws.
Introduced by representative Gerry Runte, the bill is a landmark achievement for local energy advocates. Groups such as the Sierra Club, Maine Audubon and the Natural Resources Council of Maine submitted testimony in support of the bill.
Maine’s Public Advocate, Heather Sanborn, also testified in support, noting that the law will provide critical protection for consumers who are frequently targeted by deceptive marketing from competitive electricity providers.
Following the passage of LD 2112, Seth Berry, executive director of Our Power Maine, a local energy advocacy group, shared this statement with pv magazine USA:
Maine has a strong tradition of local control, so it’s fitting that our municipal and tribal leaders will now be able to procure energy for their local residents and small businesses. It will take effort, but could lead to cleaner and/or lower-cost supply that better reflects local goals.
Maine already has a handful of legacy community-owned utilities, in towns like Houlton, Madison and Kennebunk. These local utilities predated the large incumbent utilities, and have had the wisdom to stay independent. Their experience is clear: local control has led to lower costs. In recent years, their supply costs have been about half the cost of default supply.
For other towns, the focus may be less on cost but more on clean energy. These towns may want to use their new CCA powers to get to 100% low-GHG energy faster than the state’s goal of 2040.
We are excited to see what forward-thinking community leaders in Maine will do with this new capacity!
How Maine’s CCA law works
Maine’s electric utility market has been deregulated since 2000, meaning that while the state’s two major utilities operate the grid and provide billing services, Maine residents served by these utilities may choose their electricity supplier from a list of Competitive Electric Providers (CEPs).
The core of LD 2112 is that it allows municipalities that form a CCA to negotiate their own rates for electricity, essentially becoming the default electricity supplier for most residents within their area.
This structure allows small towns to partner, combining their demand to gain leverage in the market. Before a program can begin, the local legislative body (e.g., a town council or town meeting) must vote to authorize the creation of the CCA and develop a detailed implementation plan, which must then be approved by the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
If the CCA is approved, the law provides rules for how residential and small commercial customers may be automatically enrolled, allowing these customers to opt out if they choose to.
It also provides rules for customers who may not be automatically enrolled, including customers participating in solar net metering or front of the meter distributed energy programs, those already receiving generation service from a CEP, and certain low-income customers who are receiving financial assistance.
Other Maine energy bills
Several other high-profile bills have passed in Maine this year, including LD 1730, which established plug-in solar guidelines in the state, LD 2140, which directs Efficiency Maine to establish a demand response program and LD 1949, which requires the Maine Public Utilities Commission to consider affordability when executing its duties and directs the commission to conduct a comprehensive review of current electric delivery rates and report on whether changes could be made to contain customer costs, reduce utility bill volatility and increase bill transparency.
LD 307, which would have established a moratorium on new data center development in the state, was vetoed by governor Mills, who said she would have signed the bill if it included an exemption for a project currently under development.
Despite the veto, Mills said she would issue an executive order to establish a council to examine the impact of data centers in Maine (something called for in LD 307). The governor also signed LD 713, which prohibits data center projects from participating in Maine’s development tax incentive programs.
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