The Maine Department of Energy Resources (DOER) is responsible for designing a program or programs to encourage the development of front of the meter (FTM) distributed energy resources (DER) in the state, pursuant to 35-A MRS section 3209-I and Public Law 2025 Chapter 430 section 14. By law, DOER is required to submit the proposed program to the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) by September 30, 2026. If the PUC finds that the program or programs proposed by DOER provide benefits to ratepayers in the State in excess of any costs to ratepayers, the PUC will implement the program or programs.
“Front of the meter distributed energy resource” means an electric generating facility that uses a renewable fuel or technology – including but not limited to solar, fuel cells, biomass, and hydroelectric generators in accordance with section 3210, subsection 2, paragraph B3, is located in the service territory of a transmission and distribution utility in the State, and is interconnected to the distribution grid on the utility side of a customer's utility meter.
During program development, DOER must consider the following factors:
- The marginal benefit to ratepayers in the State of the time value of generation and the location of generation.
- Reasonable compensation rates specific to a distributed energy resource's size and generation type.
- The development and use of a compensation model based on the value of distributed energy resources.
- Opportunities for a load reducer program for commercial customers.
- Incentivizing energy storage that provides benefits to ratepayers in the State; and
- Necessary changes to utility rate structure, billing systems, data collection or metering to implement the program.
The Department’s previous work, including the Distributed Generation Stakeholder Group report and the Energy Storage Market Assessment, will be used to inform program design.
Draft for Comment
On August 27, 2026, DOER published a draft program proposal (PDF) for public comment. Comments will be accepted via email to doer@maine.gov through September 11, 2026.
- Public Webinar #1: June 25, 2026, 11am-12:30pm
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DOER hosted a public webinar to present its planned approach and timeline for designing a new front-of-the-meter distributed energy resources program to be filed with the Maine PUC by September 30, 2026. The webinar will walk through initial design options under consideration, outline the analytic methods being used to evaluate them, and invite stakeholder input.
Meeting Materials: Pre-meeting materials (PDF) Meeting slides (PDF) Meeting summary (PDF)
- Public Webinar #2: September 2, 2026, 11am-12pm
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This webinar will provide an overview of the program directive and design process, approaches considered, and the straw proposal, followed by participant discussion and a review of next steps. Participants are encouraged to review the straw proposal in advance (PDF) and come prepared with questions and comments. Register for the webinar here. Written comments on the straw proposal are also welcomed and must be submitted by email to doer@maine.gov no later than September 11, 2026.
Meeting Materials: Meeting slides (PDF)