Our governor is trying to kill net metering | Alternative Energy | Forums

And I agree with him, funny everyone wants to cut govt welfare until it affects them

Gov. Paul LePage is proposing a three-year “grandfather” period to allow Maine residents who have installed solar panels to recover some of their upfront investment through a practice called net metering. After that, he wants to end the program. The governor’s new proposal is drawing swift criticism from the solar industry.

Under net metering, residential solar generators can get a credit on their electric bill for excess electricity that they put back into the power grid. Over time, those credits can help cover the cost of the original investment, for, say, solar panels.

But as more people have gone solar, the policy has come under fire, with some saying it forces nonsolar customers to pay an unfair share of maintaining the electric grid.

LePage wants to get rid of net metering altogether.

“The whole concept behind the comments from the governor’s energy office is to move forward with a more market-based approach,” says Patrick Woodcock, who directs the governor’s energy office.

more http://news.mpbn.net.....m#stream/0