AUGUSTA — Efficiency Maine is accepting grant applications from commercial, municipal and nonprofit organizations across Maine for its new Competitive Program. Under this program, Maine businesses are able to compete for a portion of $4 million to fund large electrical energy efficiency and distributed generation projects.

Funding for projects ranges from $100,000 to $500,000 per facility and may not constitute more than 50 percent of the total project costs.

The application deadline is 2 p.m. on Monday, Oct.31. For more information or to obtain a copy of the RFP, visit www.efficiencymaine.com/at-work/business-programs/competitive-program or contact Ian Burnes at [email protected] or 207-213-4149. Reference RFP EM-021-2011 when making requests.

Last year, $4.3 million was awarded for electrical efficiency projects at nine businesses and organizations across Maine. These efficiency efforts effectively allowed grant recipients to lock in a portion of their electricity prices at $.018 per kWh.