BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 15, 2025
In a March 11 letter, Karen Marysdaughter raised valid concerns about the efforts in the Maine legislature to do away with net energy billing (NEB) after investing in rooftop solar. She is also correct that some are ignoring the externalized costs of burning fossil fuels, a massive double standard in not taxing fossil fuel pollution. The NEB subsidy was originally intended for small customers like her. That subsidy gives solar free use of the electric system and leaves the costs to non-solar customers. Big solar developers convinced the Legislature that they also needed that subsidy. It created a gold rush of solar farm developers and is projected to cost Maine consumers more than $200 million a year. That money is largely going to out-of-state investors. The large solar farms that we see do not need to be subsidized. ~ Jeffrey Jones, Bangor