MAINE, USA — Central Maine Power customers who use a lot of electricity have a few options to spend less on their electricity bill, and the utility company is asking state regulators to approve more.

CMP is asking the Maine Public Utilities Commission to approve two specialty rate plans, one designed for heat pump users and another for homes with EVs, heat pumps, and other energy-intensive technology. However, critics – including clean energy advocates – say there are better options and oppose these plans.

The main gripe, according to Noah Berman at The Acadia Center and Rebecca Schultz at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, is that neither rate plan met the goals – the adoption of heat pumps, EVs and other electric technologies – that it was created to meet.

“Third-party measurement and evaluation of their impact on consumer behavior has demonstrated the rates are not effective,” Schultz wrote. “To the contrary, these rates would encourage demand for electricity during peak times that drive costs across the system, thereby shifting costs to other users and making the entire system more expensive for everyone.”

Berman has similar critiques and believes that CMP’s Time-of-Use rate bills based on usage at peak and off-peak times. On-peak times are 5 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, according to CMP.

“The time of use rate offers a lot of the same benefits because heat pumps are a shiftable load. You can heat your house all day up until the peak period, really blast it if you want, and you could still be saving money in the end,” Berman said.

The two rates CMP is proposing don’t encourage Mainers to shift their usage toward off-peak times, says Berman. That is a problem because, as Schultz pointed out, increasing peak demand leads to more strain on the grid, requiring higher-grade infrastructure and subsequently higher rates.

Berman also warns that as summer gets hotter, more people may cool their homes. The heat pump rate, he says, may actually be more costly if summertime usage is higher.

To read the full article from News Center Maine, click here.