MAINE — A national solar company has launched an online petition directed at the Maine Public Utilities Commission urging the state to keep net metering while other alternatives to the solar policy are explored.

Chris Rauscher, director of public policy for Sunrun Inc. and Sen. Angus King’s former energy policy advisor, explained in a nut shell what net metering is.

“It’s a free market mechanism that allows a home owner or business or farm … to put up panels and connect to the grid and use the electricity from the grid,” he said. “[They can] put some [energy] back in the grid, draw back on credits from an account called net metering. In Maine, you don’t get a check or anything like that. One of the reasons it works so well … it simply pays for the price of electricity. It’s not dependent on government regulators.”

According to Rauscher, the online campaign through Credo Mobilize titled “A Petition to Save Solar Choice in Maine,” is the direct result of a resolve passed by the state Legislature in August. The original bill LD 1263 was vetoed by Gov. Paul LePage in June and his veto was overridden by the Legislature shortly after.

“The Legislature sought to develop an alternative to net energy billing and fairly and transparently allocates the cost and benefits of the distributed generation to all customers, allows participation by all customers and creates a sustainable platform for future growth of distributed generation to the benefit of all ratepayers,” the resolve states.

Part of the directive from the Legislature included creating a stakeholder group to explore potential alternatives, Harry Lanphere, administrative director and spokesman for the PUC, said. This includes alternatives focusing on consumers and wholesale market by reviewing the white paper report created by the Office of the Public Advocate. He added the diverse group – consisting of utilities representatives, Natural Resource Council of Maine, Sierra Club, Revision Energy and others – have met five times so far and are set to meet again early this month.

“It’s got all the right players,” he said. “They are certainly having great conversation. To my knowledge at this point … there hasn’t been any real complete consensus.”

Rauscher said the campaign isn’t advocating against alternatives but to keep net metering.

“What we’re advocating for … that is Maine wants to try out a new mechanism for solar, particularly at the residential scale, is do it side-by-side for net metering,” he said. “Give the customers more solar choice not less. Don’t take something away.”

Local solar business owners, Fred Garbo and Shawn Kane of Norway’s Garbo-Kane Integrated Solar Builders, weighed in on the subject. They said there needs to be a transition to a low-carbon economy and people can no longer kick the can down the road to future generations.

“Therefore we must send the proper price signals to all energy consumers that renewables must be given preference over existing carbon intensive sources of energy,” they said in a joint statement. “Doing away with net metering is a step in the wrong direction. Creating a truly smart grid that integrates renewables now will take serious investment by us all. It will, however, pale in comparison to the increasing costs of more frequent superstorms. Let’s lead the way, Maine, with smart policy.”

The petition and Rauscher noted there’s 43 states plus the District of Columbia that have net metering, a policy they say, “has allowed for that rapid growth of solar around the country.”

Lanphere said the stakeholder group is still working on recommendations.

“The goal is try to get that stakeholder group to reach some consensus on what would be recommended to the Legislature and if that can’t happen that will be part of the report,” he said. “The next session we will deliver a report to them at the end of January and based on that report, one would assume they will decide what action they want to take from a policy stand point.”

The report can be delivered to the Legislature no later than Jan. 30, 2016, according to the resolve.

Rauscher said his group will await to hear the report and develop an action plan depending on the results. In the meantime, a Solar Power for Maine People rally will be held outside the PUC at 101 Second St., in Hallowell, at noon on Wednesday, Dec. 9.

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