AUGUSTA – Want to encourage people to invest in alternative forms of energy production?

Make it more affordable.

A pair of bills considered by state legislative committees on Tuesday aim to do just that.

One would eliminate property taxes on small, privately owned windmills for 10 years. Another would allow electricity customers who generate more kilowatt-hours than they use to get paid for their excess production.

The bills highlight the Legislature’s interest in encouraging Mainers to develop their own renewable energy sources.

Robert Bomaster of Jay testified before the Taxation Committee in favor of exempting windmills from property taxes.

Before deciding to invest in a windmill, Bomaster said he spoke with some people who already owned them.

“Some owners were assessed and others were not,” he said. “We talked to the Jay tax assessor. He informed us that the property tax on the wind-powered turbine would be compared to a swimming pool.”

Bomaster said he doesn’t understand why something that produces natural energy would be taxed the same way as something that is a luxury item and consumes energy.

State Rep. Patrick Flood, R-Winthrop, the bill’s sponsor, said he proposed the measure to unify the tax policy.

“The key objective here is to provide comfort to people investing upwards of $15,000 for windmills,” he said before the committee Tuesday. “I doubt that there would be any significant fiscal impact to municipalities now, because there are relatively few windmills in existence.”

For those who do invest in their own wind turbine, there may be other savings to be had.

The Utilities and Energy Committee took a look at the first of several bills proposed this legislative cycle to address the state’s net metering policy.

The proposed bill would require utility companies to pay customers who generate electricity from renewable resources for any excess kilowatt-hours they produce.

Though net metering has been available in Maine since 1987, recent regulatory changes have watered down its effects, said state Rep. Mark Bryant, D-Windham, who sponsored the measure.

Since 2000, the Maine Public Utilities Commission has issued credits to customers that generate more electricity than they use in a given month. The credits can be used over a 12-month period to offset the customer’s electricity use, a representative of Maine’s PUC said.

More than 40 other states have net metering policies, most of which are similar to Maine’s plan, according to the PUC.

But at least 10 states, including Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota and Texas, have programs that require utilities to purchase excess electricity from the customer, according to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council.

Representatives of Central Maine Power, the Dirigo Electric Cooperative and Bangor Hydro testified in opposition to the bill. At issue for the power companies is the proposed rate customers would be paid per kilowatt-hour as well as the overall concept.

David Allen, a representative for Central Maine Power, said if the bill passed, it would result in CMP passing the added cost on to its other customers.

“It would border on the outrageous to actually pay (customers) to use our system,” said David Allen, a representative for Central Maine Power. “In our view, this bill does not promote consumer fairness. It does just the opposite, by requiring most customers to pay higher electric rates; perhaps substantially higher electric rates than necessary.”

Under the current rules, CMP sees an estimated $430,000 of its total annual revenue of $350 million go to credits distributed to customers, according to a recent PUC report.

The committee will hold hearings on similar net metering bills before scheduling a work session on the issue.

For more information on the history of net metering in Maine and the PUC’s recommendations, visit http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/attach.php?id=66939&an=1.