letter to the editor

Yes on LD 1504

Sat, 07/08/2017 - 7:15am

Dear Editor:

Please thank Senator Dana Dow and Representative Abden Simmons of Waldoboro for voting yes on LD 1504. A significant margin of legislators voted yes such that the likely veto by Governor Paul LePage, will be overridden, a vote coming up in the next two weeks.

Senator Dow and Rep Simmons joined with a bipartisan two-thirds majority to for future study by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of the costs and benefits of distributed solar energy, and the design of a modern rate structure.

LD 1504 instructs the PUC to bring an analysis back to the legislature by January, 2019, with a recommendation that would promote solar energy, protect all Maine ratepayers, and help utilities maintain a cost-efficient transmission and distribution system.

Right now, only about one percent of Maine’s energy is derived from solar. The “yeah” column of the voters overrides the worst provisions of a new PUC rule pertaining to net energy billing (NEB), scheduled to take effect January 1, 2018.

Internationally countries from Germany to China, “see the light” shining, as do many U.S. states for electricity produced by the sun. One estimate shows one in every fifty jobs created nationally is in the solar industry. Solar can be one part of Maine’s energy future.

Please thank Sen Dow and Rep Simmons for their support of LD 1504, and urge them and other legislators to override the expected veto by the governor.

Ron Phillips

Waldoboro