Dive Brief:

• Central Maine Power, Maine's largest utility, wants to charge a higher fee for customers who produce their own power.
• Renewable advocates contend the proposed fee from the Iberdrola subsidiary would stifle distributed generation in the state.
• The Maine Public Advocate’s Office opposes the proposed standby charge, which is one part of a larger rate hike proposal.

Dive Insight:

The net metering fight has come to Maine, a deregulated state. So far, most of the focus on net metering has been taking place in traditionally regulated states where utilities make money based on their power sales. Even so, the arguments match the standard utility points on the issue.

“They aren’t reducing their dependence on us,” John Carroll, CMP spokesman, said. “They’re just reducing their dependence on grid-supplied electricity.”