Solar in Maine: how the rules work
How Maine credits the power solar panels send back to the grid, what homes there pay for electricity, and what to check when a home with solar is bought or sold.
How exported power is credited
Power sent to the grid is credited at the full retail rate (kWh for kWh), at least within each billing period.
Residential rooftop customers use Net Energy Billing (NEB) under the kWh-credit tariff. Each exported kWh earns a 1:1 kWh credit that offsets the per-kWh supply and delivery charges, about 24.6 cents/kWh all-in at CMP as of July 1, 2026 (standard-offer supply ~12.7 cents). The fixed monthly customer charge cannot be offset. Credits bank month to month and expire after 12 months with no cash-out. LD 1777 (signed June 27, 2025) cut compensation for large community/commercial NEB projects and ended their link to future rate increases. It left the residential rooftop kWh-credit program unchanged. The new per-project charge is set at zero for systems under 1 MW. Program costs are recovered in rates paid by all customers. Because the residential rules did not change, there is no grandfathering.
What changes for a home with solar
A savings estimate that counts exported power at the full retail rate matches how exports are credited here. Where only month-end surplus earns a lower rate, homes that use most of their power themselves come closest to that estimate.
Electricity here costs about 30.0¢ per kWh (2026) and has risen about 4.8% a year over the last decade. A lease or PPA escalator above that pace makes the solar payment rise faster than utility rates have.
When a home with solar is sold in Maine
- Owned outright: proof it is paid off, the warranties, and the utility’s interconnection or net-metering agreement, which has to move into the buyer’s name.
- Loan: a payoff letter, and whether the buyer can assume the loan. Many solar loans are secured by a UCC-1 fixture filing that title will find.
- Lease or PPA: the transfer process and how long approval takes, the buyer’s credit check, the current payment or rate and its yearly increase, and a buyout quote.
- Every case: whether the export-credit terms above stay with the home after the sale, and the last 12 months of production from the monitoring app.
Have the solar contract for a Maine home?
Upload it and get a letter-graded report card: price, production, payment changes, value and transfer terms, measured against Maine’s rates and rules.
Grade a solar contractSources
- www.maine.gov/meopa/about/news/ld-1777-signed-law (2025-06-30)
- mysolarfy.com/maine-net-energy-billing-2026/ (2026)
- mainemorningstar.com/2025/06/20/maine-legislature-backs-plan-to-reform-states-clean-energy (2025-06-20)
- Electricity prices: EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B (2026) and EIA state annual averages 2014–2024
- Installed price: EnergySage marketplace, September 2026