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Net Metering Program
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Central Maine Power net metering in Maine

Southern and central Maine, including Portland, Lewiston, Augusta and Waterville. The larger of the two utilities. A credited kilowatt hour is worth about 24.7 cents on the 2026 standard offer: 11.959 cents delivery and 12.721 cents supply.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
650K

What they credit you

One for one, at your own delivery plus supply price

Published terms

Under the Net Energy Billing kWh credit program, exported kilowatt hours are credited one for one against the kilowatt hours you buy, so each is worth your delivery plus supply price. Credits roll month to month.

Month to month
Month to month; unused credits expire after twelve months.

Published terms · checked 2026-10-02 · source

Installers serving CMP customers

Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.

Not sure which to choose?

These are real companies operating in CMP territory. Bold Energy is listed first because it is the company we introduce first. That order is our choice, not a score. The other companies are ordered by reviews, years trading and BBB grade. None of them pays us for placement. Pick the one you want and we will call you to arrange it.

Ordering combines three things we read from primary sources: Google review count and rating, years trading taken from the company’s Better Business Bureau profile rather than its own marketing, and its BBB letter grade. BBB accreditation is shown but never scored, because it is a paid membership rather than a mark of quality.

Check any contractor license yourself at the state register. Do that before you sign anything, with any company, including ours.

What this looks like on a CMP bill

An average Maine household, against a system sized to cover its year. The energy charge is the part that goes to zero. The fixed monthly charge underneath it is the part that never does, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.

Meter readingkWh
Energy charge$162.75
$162.75
We have read this provider’s own tariff. What it still bills you at zero is set out below, with the sheet it came from. The energy line above uses the statewide average. See what they still bill
DirectionReading…

Meter reading falling from 41926 to 41773 kilowatt hours. A 550 kilowatt hour month against 703 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 153 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $162.75 to $0.00 at 29.59 cents per kilowatt hour.

Maine average household use, 550 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 29.59¢ per kWh. Your utility still bills a fixed monthly customer charge that no system offsets, so this is the energy part of the bill, which is the part that goes away.

What your installer should be telling you

The credit offsets kilowatt hours, not the fixed delivery charge, and its value moves with each year’s standard offer price and each July’s delivery rates. If you buy supply from a competitive provider, your supply price sets that half of the value.

What CMP bills you anyway

In a month when your production covers everything you use, the energy charge can reach zero. This does not. It is the floor under every bill, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.

The charge
$15.08 a month, and it includes the first 50 kWh
How it is set
CMP is a delivery company: it carries the power and bills for the wires, while the electricity itself is bought from the standard offer or a competitive supplier and priced separately. So the floor here is CMP’s delivery charge, and Maine builds it differently from almost everywhere else on this site — the fixed charge buys a block of usage. Residential Rate A is “Fixed (includes 50 kWh): $15.08/month” as of 1 July 2026, with delivery above that at 11.959 cents a kilowatt hour, made up of 6.7427 cents distribution and 5.3154 cents transmission less a 0.0991 cent stranded cost credit. The bundled 50 kWh cut both ways for a solar household. They are paid for whether you use them or not, so a system sized to wipe out every last kilowatt hour gains nothing on the first 50; and the floor cannot be netted below $15.08 however much you export. The figure moves often and in both directions, which is a reason to check it rather than trust a quote: the same charge was $16.02 from July 2024, $15.99 from May 2025 and $17.89 from October 2025 before falling to $15.08. A web summary put CMP’s charge at $27.37. That is the $15.08 plus delivery and supply on the bundled 50 kWh added together, which mixes CMP’s charge with a supply price CMP does not set.

Maine Public Utilities Commission, residential delivery rates, Central Maine Power Rate A, as of 1 July 2026 · checked 2026-10-01 · source

Applying to CMP

What CMP itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.

One for one, at the retail rate
Net Energy Billing gives residential solar owners a full one for one credit for every exported kilowatt hour. There is no discount, no adjustment and no separate export rate.
And Maine retail rates are unusually high
Maine’s average residential price was 29.59 cents in June 2026 on EIA’s figures, the fourth highest of any state. A credited kilowatt hour is worth your own delivery plus supply price: about 24.7 cents at CMP, 30.4 cents in Versant’s Bangor Hydro District and 29.7 cents in its Maine Public District on the 2026 standard offer.
Credits expire after twelve months
A summer surplus carries through the winter, which in Maine is the whole point. Unused credits expire after twelve months, so a system sized well past annual usage is the one design that does not pay.
The first block of usage is already paid for
CMP’s fixed delivery charge includes the first 50 kWh each month and Versant’s the first 100, so those kilowatt hours earn nothing back from solar. Credits offset the usage above them.
The 2025 law did not touch residential rooftop
LD 1777, signed on 27 June 2025, changed net energy billing for non-residential and community solar participants. The residential rooftop program was not affected. A great deal of coverage blurred that line.

From CMP’s published guidelines · checked 2026-10-02 · source

CMP net metering questions

Does CMP offer one for one net metering?
Yes. Under the Net Energy Billing kWh credit program, exported kilowatt hours are credited one for one against the kilowatt hours you buy, so each is worth your delivery plus supply price. Credits roll month to month. Month to month; unused credits expire after twelve months.
What does CMP pay for power sent back to the grid?
One for one, at your own delivery plus supply price.
Do I need a battery with CMP?
Not for the economics. CMP credits exports at the retail rate, so power you send out during the day comes back at the same value after dark without storage. A battery is still worth considering for outages during hurricane season, but it is an upgrade here rather than a requirement.
How do I find my CMP bill?
Sign in at cmpco.com. Open My Account, then Billing. Open the latest bill and save the PDF. Or screenshot the summary page. If you cannot get to it, a rough guess at your average monthly amount is enough to start.
What is the catch with CMP?
The credit offsets kilowatt hours, not the fixed delivery charge, and its value moves with each year’s standard offer price and each July’s delivery rates. If you buy supply from a competitive provider, your supply price sets that half of the value.