A coalition fighting new state rules that reduce solar power incentives has filed a new lawsuit against Maine’s Public Utilities Commission, arguing that regulators violated state law by approving rules that will raise their costs of connecting to the grid.
The Conservation Law Foundation and three other plaintiffs on Thursday filed their lawsuit in Cumberland County Superior Court, continuing a legal battle against a new system for tracking generation and power consumption by small residential and commercial customers with on-site generators.
Solar panels are the most common type of small on-site generation in Maine, allowing customers to get credits on their energy bill for power they generate and send back to the grid, in a system called net metering.
The new rules back down those incentives over a period of years.
[Homeowners with solar panels affect your power bill. Maine’s debating whether that’s fair]
In their suit, CLF, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, solar installer ReVision Energy and the Industrial Energy Consumer Group argue that change was not based on valid research or evidence.
To read the rest of “Pro-solar coalition sues, says new metering rules violate Maine law,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Darren Fishell, please follow this link to the BDN online.
