<div>MILO -- A factory in Milo says there's uncertainty about their future after a recent $6,000 public policy charge pushed their utility bill above $10,000.According to Maine Public Advocate William Harwood, in 2019 the Maine legislature enacted the community solar program which encourages the development of renewable energy. Those in the program receive credits which reduces the subscriber's monthly electric bill."There are some challenges in terms of when you get the credits on your bill and how they're calculated that you need to be aware of but in theory, there are savings to be had for participating ratepayers," said Harwood.Harwood says public policy charges have been on utility bills since the community solar program was enacted."Some of the utility companies are starting to label it as public policy cost to explain that this is not a cost of their operation; the polls and wires that deliver the electricity. It is an assessment on top of that and they want people to recognize that they're not responsible for it in the sense that it's not part of their cost," said Harwood. "CMP and Versant pay these energy companies around 20 cents a kilowatt-hour for every kilowatt-hour they generate. CMP and Versant turn around and resell that into the wholesale market in New England because they're not in the supply business. On average they get around 5 cents a kilowatt-hour."According to Versant Power Communication Director Marissa Minor, "Beginning July 1, the stranded cost portion of the bill was broken out into two separate items. All customers now pay a fixed stranded cost charge, denoted on the bill as 'Public Policy Charges,' as well as the existing stranded cost volumetric rate. Public Policy Charges are applied to customers in each rate class as a means for all customers to share costs for state policy programs. This includes costs for net energy billing programs, which offer incentives for rooftop, business, and community solar energy production."Harwood says for residential customers that charge is around $10. Business customers are broken into different customer classes."They were relatively modest and because of how rate setting works. Sometimes there was an offsetting reduction and some other components of the rates so it sort of masked it," said Harwood. "This past July 1st a lot of ratepayers, particularly in Versant service territory, really felt the full increase."It's an increase currently being felt at Milo Chip, a wood manufacturing factory that sends its materials to ND Paper in Rumford, Maine.On their July 1st utility bill, Milo Chip received an additional $6,002.29 charge.Minor says, "While we can’t control these costs, we work to inform customers about what impacts like this mean for them. We sent a letter in advance of the change to business customers that would be most affected and pointed them to MPUC docket 2024-00078. The letters showed the businesses’ estimated impact effective July 1 so they could prepare to make business decisions."Harwood says these public policy cost charges between businesses and residential customers will accumulate to approximately $220 million by next year.According to Milo Chip Office Manager Isabelle McKenna, the $6,002.29 public policy charge rose their bill to $10,199.40 whereas before it was only just $4,197.40.McKenna says the charge on their bill goes towards the net energy billing program, the low-income assistance program, and the long-term power purchase agreement.According to Minor, Versant Power does not own, control, or profit from those programs and passes through to customers the amount the state requires to fund them.When it comes to the future of the factory after this recent charge, McKenna says, "There's an uncertainty of the future. However, we're looking into other means of energy sources."According to the Maine Public Utilities Commission, they've opened an investigation into the design of these stranded cost rates because of how some customer classes were impacted more significantly than others."These programs, which has been very successful in the amount of renewable energy that has been developed as a result," said Harwood. "Unfortunately we're now realizing that the amount of the subsidy that's built into the program which is paid by all the CMP and Versant ratepayers is now quite substantial and many ratepayers are finding it difficult to absorb the increase in their utility bills."Harwood says to learn more visit the Maine Office of the Public Advocate's website.</div>

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A recent change to Milo Chip's utility bill has now jeopardized its future

MILO -- A factory in Milo says there's uncertainty about their future after a recent $6,000 public policy charge pushed their utility bill above $10,000. According to Maine Public Advocate William Harwood, in 2019 the Maine legislature enacted the community solar program which encourages the development of renewable energy. Those in the program receive credits which reduces the subscriber's monthly electric bill.

A recent change to Milo Chip's utility bill has now jeopardized its future

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