Maine solar export compensation
What Maine pays for exported rooftop solar power, with the source and the date each figure was checked.
Record verified 2026-09-16 · 17 of 17 fields sourced
What does your utility pay?
No single rate — formula based
No single CMP-wide export rate: kWh Credit participants receive kWh credits, while non-residential Tariff Rate participants receive PUC-established dollar credits based on the applicable tariff rate and facility output.
CMP (Central Maine Power) · Maine
CMP requires Chapter 313 NEB and Chapter 324 interconnection applications; the cited MPUC page describes the PUC-established tariff-rate program.
Source: maine.gov
Full CMP (Central Maine Power) detail →Maine administers Net Energy Billing (NEB) through two programs. The kWh Credit Program provides kilowatt-hour credits to residential, commercial, and industrial customers, while the Tariff Rate Program provides dollar bill credits to non-residential customers at PUC-established rates that vary by project, customer class, utility, and applicable program vintage. Unused credits roll on a 12-month basis and then expire without compensation; 2025 legislation limits new utility-side-of-meter NEB agreements after December 31, 2025.
Program details
| Compensation mechanism | Maine has two NEB variants: a kWh Credit Program that credits participating bills in kilowatt-hours, and a Tariff Rate Program for non-residential customers that provides dollar bill credits based on the PUC-set tariff rate and facility output. |
|---|---|
| Export rate | There is no single statewide export price. The kWh Credit Program provides kWh credits rather than a fixed dollar rate; the Tariff Rate Program uses annually established, project- and customer-specific tariff rates published by the PUC. |
| Rate effective | Tariff rates are established for 12-month periods beginning January 1 and ending December 31; the PUC page states its current rate schedule was established on December 17, 2025 for periods through 2046. |
| Credit rollover | Yes. Unused kWh or dollar credits may be accumulated and applied on a rolling 12-month basis. |
| Credit expiration | Unused kWh or dollar credits are eliminated at the end of the applicable 12-month period, with no compensation for the unused credits. |
| Annual true-up | No separate annual true-up date is specified in the reviewed sources; credits are handled on a rolling 12-month basis and expire at the end of that period. |
| Residential system cap | Less than 5 MW nameplate capacity for a distributed generation resource used for NEB; the statute provides a municipal exception subject to less than 5 MW of metered electricity being used for NEB. |
| Commercial system cap | Less than 5 MW nameplate capacity for the commercial and institutional NEB program. |
| Aggregate program cap | No statewide aggregate percentage cap is stated in the cited statutes or MPUC NEB page. Section 3209-A states a 750 MW development goal; that is a goal, not described as an aggregate program cap. |
| Program status | The 2025 law bars the Commission after December 31, 2025 from allowing new NEB agreements for resources interconnected or planned on the utility side of a customer meter; existing agreements and behind-the-meter arrangements are governed by the applicable statutes and rules. |
| Regulator | Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC). The CMP and Versant tariff agreements identify the Commission as the state regulatory agency with jurisdiction over public utilities. |
| Docket | The MPUC states that the tariff rates were established on December 17, 2025 in Docket No 2019-00197 and Docket No 2022-00185. |
| Governing rule | 35-A M.R.S. §§ 3209-A and 3209-B, implemented through the Maine Public Utilities Commission Chapter 313 Net Energy Billing rule. |
| Grandfathering | Yes, in limited statutory/program respects: the commercial and institutional collocation/100%-subscription limitation does not apply to a NEB agreement executed on or before December 31, 2023, and statutory applicability provisions preserve the significance of earlier agreements and milestones. |
| Interconnection application | CMP requires a Chapter 313 net-energy-billing application in addition to the Chapter 324 interconnection application, submitted before service begins; Versant directs customers to follow Chapter 324 interconnection procedures and Chapter 313 NEB procedures. |
| Interconnection timeline | No statewide interconnection-completion deadline was identified in the reviewed sources. CMP states it will initiate the customer NEB agreement after receiving an approved Chapter 313 application, any required affidavit, and a fully executed interconnection agreement; its agreement says the utility issues the agreement within 10 business days and executes it within 15 business days after receiving the signed agreement. |
| Pending change | No separate pending change was identified in the reviewed sources as of September 16, 2026. The material 2025 changes are enacted law: after December 31, 2025, new utility-side-of-meter NEB agreements are barred under §§ 3209-A(10)-(11) and 3209-B(9). |
Rates by utility
State rules set the framework. Individual utilities often pay something different, and where they do the utility tariff governs.
| Central Maine Power (CMP) | No single CMP-wide export rate: kWh Credit participants receive kWh credits, while non-residential Tariff Rate participants receive PUC-established dollar credits based on the applicable tariff rate and facility output. Tariff rates are established for 12-month periods beginning January 1; the MPUC page identifies the December 17, 2025 rate-setting order for the current schedule. CMP requires Chapter 313 NEB and Chapter 324 interconnection applications; the cited MPUC page describes the PUC-established tariff-rate program. |
|---|---|
| Versant Power | No single Versant-wide export rate: kWh Credit participants receive kWh credits, while non-residential Tariff Rate participants receive PUC-established dollar credits based on the applicable tariff rate and facility output. Tariff rates are established annually by the MPUC; the reviewed Versant MPD tariff agreement is identified as VP-MPD C&I Tariff Rate_CNEBA_060424. Versant operates Bangor Hydro District and Maine Public District arrangements; the MPD tariff warns that NMISA/NMAO may schedule or curtail generation for system integrity. |
Sources read for this record
- maine.gov/mpuc/regulated-utilities/electricity/neb
- legislature.maine.gov/legis/statutes/35-A/title35-Asec3209-A.html
- legislature.maine.gov/legis/statutes/35-A/title35-Asec3209-B.html
- cmpco.com/suppliersandpartners/servicesandresources/interconnection/net-energy-b
- cmpco.com/documents/40117/46387196/CMP+standard+CI+NEB+Tariff+Rate+Agreement_Alt
- versantpower.com/energy-solutions/clean-energy/net-energy-billing
- versantpower.com/docs/default-source/net-energy-billing/vp-mpd-tariff.pdf?sfvrsn=3af19f
Keep reading
- Every state we track
- How these figures are sourced and dated
- Alabama — Rate PAE 2026 payment options are time-of-day: 5.17¢/kWh weekday 10 a.
- Arizona — Set per utility, not statewide. APS: $0.05554/kWh. TEP: $0.0513/kWh, w
- Arkansas — There is no single statewide export number. Non-legacy exports are cre
- California — No single statewide export rate. Compensation is set by the CPUC Avoid
- Colorado — No single statewide dollar export rate. Under ordinary net metering, m
- Connecticut — Netting export rate is a formula, not a single statewide dollar figure
- Florida — No single statewide dollar-per-kWh export rate. Monthly net exports ar
- Georgia — 3.2188¢/kWh solar avoided cost for 2026, plus 4¢/kWh adder for RNR-Ins
- Hawaii — Hawaiian Electric Smart Renewable Energy Export rates for 2024-2026, i
- Illinois — No single statewide dollar-per-kWh rate. For new residential and small
- Indiana — Utility-specific EDG rates, not one statewide rate; the verified utili
- Iowa — There is no single statewide dollar rate. Under the current inflow-out
- Kansas — There is no single statewide dollar rate. For systems operating under
- Kentucky — There is no single statewide export rate. Current published utility ex
- Louisiana — Avoided-cost export rates effective in 2026 are $0.0386407/kWh for Ent
- Maryland — No single statewide export price: for the annual-accrual option, net e
- Massachusetts — No single statewide dollar-per-kWh rate. For ordinary qualifying solar
- Michigan — Utility- and rate-schedule-specific, not one statewide flat rate. DTE'
- Minnesota — There is no single statewide dollar export rate. Xcel's latest posted
- Missouri — Utility-specific avoided-fuel-cost/cogeneration rate, not a single sta
- Nevada — Tier 4 exports are credited at 75% of the applicable retail rate; Nort
- New Hampshire — There is no single statewide dollar-per-kWh rate: for small customer-g
- New Jersey — One-for-one retail-rate credit against delivered electricity during th
- New Mexico — There is no single statewide fixed export number in the cited rule. Ex
- New York — No single statewide $/kWh rate. The Value Stack is calculated from uti
- North Carolina — No single statewide export rate exists. For the current DEC NMB and RS
- Ohio — No single statewide dollar rate. Under the standard utility tariff, ex
- Oklahoma — There is no single statewide dollar export rate. Net excess is credite
- Oregon — Full retail rate for each rate component on the bill that uses kWh as
- Pennsylvania — No single statewide dollar rate: full retail kWh rate for monthly offs
- Rhode Island — There is no single statewide dollar headline rate. Renewable net-meter
- South Carolina — No single statewide export rate exists. Santee Cooper's DG-25 rider li
- Tennessee — NESolar Connect publishes seasonal base rates of $0.07363/kWh summer,
- Texas — No statewide rate. Published municipal examples include Austin Energy
- Utah — Schedule 137: 4.855 cents/kWh for exports in June through September; 4
- Vermont — The statewide blended residential base credit is $0.2071/kWh effective
- Virginia — No single statewide rate exists. APCo Rider N.M.S. II lists total avoi
- Washington — Applicable retail energy rate / kWh credit under the customer's utilit
- Wisconsin — Utility-specific. 2026 examples are WEPCO CGS-NM residential/secondary