Net Energy Billing
Renewable Energy and Your CMP Bill
We are committed to creating a sustainable energy future and to reducing our carbon footprint. Sustainable development and respect for the environment guide our strategy and actions. You can find more information about our commitment to the environment here.
We support our customers who are generators, subscribers or project sponsors of renewable energy. We have made it easy for our customers to participate in renewable energy programs.
Net Energy Billing (NEB) reflects renewable energy generated and energy consumed
If you generate energy or have contracted with a Community Energy Project, your bill will reflect any excess generation and usage beyond what is generated or purchased on your bill. If you have excess generation in a billing period, it is banked for later use.
What is Distributed Generation?
Distributed generation refers to small electricity production facilities, often renewables, that provide electricity to an individual account or small group. In the context of NEB, these are also known as Community Energy Projects. These production facilities can generate electricity from a variety of energy sources, including fuel cells, tidal power, solar, wind, and other renewable resources.
Distributed Generation allows a facility producing less than 5MW, such as a solar farm project, to share renewable energy with residential and business customers. Customers can contract with a Community Energy Project to receive an allocated amount of generation.
What to expect as a subscriber to a Community Energy Project
As a subscriber, you have decided to contract with a Community Energy Project to receive renewable energy credits which offset your monthly consumption.
Once enrolled in a Community Energy Program, understanding your invoice will help you see the energy you consumed, the credits you received, and how your credits are applied to your bill. Excess credits can be banked and used over the following 12-month period. You will be billed by CMP for the difference of your usage and the credits you receive. You will be billed separately by your Community Energy Project for the energy they provide to you.
We have recently enhanced our bill to help you better understand your energy usage, available credits and banked credits.
How to Read Your Net Energy Bill
Your bill will display a “Your Generation Details” table. The table will show historical data of the last twelve months, when available, and also offer the following information:
- Billing Period - Dates of service you are billed
- Allocated Credits - Credits in either kWhs or financial amounts that you are receiving from one or more Community Energy Projects.
- Banked Generation – Excess generation that are stored in your bank for the billing period.
- Unused Expired Credits - Expiring credits will display in the billing period that they expire and will continue to display until the end of the 12-month period.
- Website - cmpco.com/NEB-DG is shown at the top of the generation details.
- Project Sponsor – Your chosen Project Sponsor(s) is listed below the generation details.
Your Generation Details (kWh)
| Fixed Percentage | Billing Period | Usage | Self Generation | Banked Generation | Unused Expired Credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | 3/16/21-4/14/21 | 1,479 | 339 | 0 | 0 |
| 100% | 2/13/21-3/15/21 | 2,356 | 190 | 0 | 0 |
| 100% | 1/16/21-2/12/21 | 2,400 | 51 | 0 | 0 |
| 100% | 12/16/20-1/15/21 | 2,355 | 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 100% | 11/14/20-12/15/20 | 2,194 | 87 | 0 | 0 |
| 100% | 10/16/20-11/13/20 | 1,611 | 117 | 0 | 0 |
| 100% | 9/16/20-10/15/20 | 973 | 337 | 0 | 0 |
| 100% | 8/15/20-9/15/20 | 724 | 471 | 0 | 0 |
| 100% | 7/16/20-8/14/20 | 893 | 326 | 0 | 0 |
| 100% | 6/13/20-7/15/20 | 823 | 473 | 0 | 0 |
| 100% | 5/15/20-6/12/20 | 627 | 530 | 0 | 0 |
| 100% | 4/15/20-5/14/20 | 1,162 | 450 | 0 | 0 |
If you receive a fixed allocation from a Community Energy Project of generation, your bill will include the following information:
Your Generation Details (kWh)
| Fixed Percentage | Billing Period | Usage | Allocated Generation | Banked Generation | Unused Expired Credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.000000% | 3/16/21-4/14/21 | 200 | 280 | 130 | 0 |
| 10.000000% | 2/13/21-3/15/21 | 200 | 250 | 50 | 0 |
And, if you receive cascading credits from a Community Energy Project, your bill will show the following information:
| Priority | Billing Period | Usage | Allocated Generation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 5/21/21-6/18/21 | 200 | 200 |
| 2 | 4/22/21-5/20/21 | 200 | 200 |
Please contact the Project Sponsor for details regarding the allocated generation credited to your account. You receive allocated generation produced by ABC SOLAR.
What to expect if you are generating energy at your residence
Putting solar panels on your house? Looking to create and distribute energy? Our customers with self-generation equipment must receive permission to connect their energy source to our electricity delivery system. To do so, you or your contractor, will need to complete an application and follow a series of steps to ensure the system conforms to our standards and is safely connected.
Net Energy Billing Rules and Regulations
The Maine Public Utilities Chapter 313 rule governs net energy billing in Maine. The Chapter was established to help implement the State’s policy to encourage electricity generation from renewable resources through small independently owned generation sources thus allowing customers to produce electricity for their own use. The rule establishes the terms and requirements under which regulated utilities within the State must implement net energy billing. Please refer to Chapter 313 (see link below) for details.
Basic Eligibility
- Customer must be located within the utility’s service territory.
- An eligible facility must have a nameplate capacity that is less than 5 MWAC.
- Energy generated from an eligible facility must qualify as a renewable fuel source or technology as specified in 35-A M.R.S.A. §3210(2)(C). These include fuel cells, tidal power, solar, wind, geothermal electricity production, hydroelectric, biomass that are fueled by wood or wood waste, landfill gas, anaerobic digestion of agricultural products or by-products or generators fueled by municipal solid waste in conjunction with recycling. New micro-combined heat and power systems are no longer allowed to net meter.
Net Meter Application
- Customer’s wishing to net energy bill must fill out a net metering Chapter 313 application in addition to the Chapter 324 application for an Interconnection Agreement and submit to CMP prior to commencement of the service under the rule. The net energy billing application can be found at the following link
Chapter 313
- Please use the following link to obtain a copy of Chapter 313.
Net Energy Billing | MPUC (maine.gov)
Customer Net Energy Billing Agreement
- CMP will initiate all Customer Net Energy Billing Agreements once we receive and approved the Chapter 313 application, an affidavit (if Shared Financial), and the customer has a fully executed Interconnection Agreement.
- Sample Agreements:
Chapter 324 Certificate of Completion
- Upon completion of the project customers must submit a completed and signed Certificate of Completion. The form must be signed by a certified and licensed electrician and/or local code official. Please refer to our Interconnection page for more details on Chapter 324.
Frequently Asked Questions
Please refer to Frequently Asked Questions for additional detail on how the rule is implemented.
If you have additional questions please e-mail ppaadmin@cmpco.com.