Radio Address: Solar bill adds to burden on Maine ratepayers
April 20, 2016
(MP3 Audio)Liberals in the Legislature are congratulating themselves for passing the solar bill. This is a perfect example of what is wrong in Augusta.
Hello, this is Governor Paul LePage.
Legislators believe they were voting to reduce carbon emissions, save the planet and create jobs in the solar industry. In reality, they are taking more your money to subsidize an inefficient and expensive form of energy by guaranteeing above-market rates for solar power.
Maine is already ranked 12th highest in the nation for energy costs. We have already lost over 6,000 good-paying jobs, due in part to above-market electricity costs to ratepayers, high taxes and unreasonable red tape. These costs hit large employers in our traditional industries particularly hard.
The jobs Mainers are losing are high-paying career jobs, well above the state?s per capita median income. We could easily purchase 6-cent-per-kilowatt hydro electricity from Quebec, rather than paying 14 cents for above-market contracts. This is the kind of anti-business attitude that increases costs and drives companies out of Maine.
The solar bill will not save jobs at paper mills or other large employers. But it will help your neighbor lower the cost to put solar panels on his roof at your expense. This will not save the planet, and it will have a negligible effect on reducing carbon emissions.
The bill will add tens of millions in energy costs for Maine businesses and households that cannot afford expensive solar panels. It ensures the costs of the program will be borne by ratepayers, and it includes a provision to allow above-market contracts to be added to stranded costs. Stranded cost is the difference between the contract price and the market price. We are already paying stranded costs for other forms of energy. The solar bill simply piles more costs on ratepayers. I would have no problem with the bill if the pricing was at market-rates and it prohibited more costs from adding to the burden of ratepayers. Sadly, the bill does not include ratepayer protections.
Last month, the Chinese Communist Party revealed its plan to reduce carbon intensity from now until 2020. The plan includes all forms of energy to meet the party?s goals for cleaner air. It allows wind, nuclear and hydro power to encourage their economy to continue to grow. It sounds absurd, but the Chinese plan is more sensible, more cost-effective and much less draconian than the Legislature?s bill for solar power.
Business leaders from Sappi, Bath Iron Works, Barber Foods and Pratt-Whitney are imploring us to lower the cost of energy. This bill takes us exactly in the wrong direction.
How many more jobs must Mainers lose before the Legislature wakes up?
Thank you for listening.