Another Dick Move As LePage Vetoes Solar Net Metering Bill - Again
AUGUSTA — As expected, Gov. Paul LePage has vetoed a solar energy bill strongly supported by environmental groups and solar installation companies.
The bill, L.D. 1504, would direct the Maine Public Utilities Commission to adopt new rules that would keep so-called “net metering” solar energy incentives in place but would reduce them over time. Supporters proposed the bill after the PUC voted earlier this year to phase out net metering – also known as net energy billing – in which homeowners with solar energy panels receive credit for 100 percent of the full retail value of excess electricity they feed back into the power grid.
But in his veto letter, LePage repeated his contention that net metering “subsidizes the cost of solar panels at the expense of the elderly and poor who can least afford it.” Supporters, who will need to maintain the two-thirds majorities they had in both chambers to override the veto, countered by accusing LePage of blatantly misrepresenting the bill’s intentions in order to turn Republican votes.
“It is a very cynical attempt to flip more Republican votes by lying to them,” said Steve Hinchman, legal counsel for ReVision Energy, the largest solar installation company in Maine. Solar policy has been a major issue in Maine since last session, when LePage successfully vetoed a net metering bill that had divided the industry.
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http://www.pressherald.com/2017/07/10/lepage-vetoes-solar-net-metering-bill-again/