There are two types of charges on your utility bill: supply and delivery.
Supply
Your utility company,such as Central Maine Power (CMP), Versant, or others, is not responsible for your supply costs. The company simply transports energy from a supplier to your house. So that you only have to pay one electricity bill, your utility company acts as the “middleman” for these supply costs. You pay them, and they send that money directly to the supplier.
Where is my energy supply coming from?
The default supply option is known as the “Standard Offer”. This is a mix of different regional energy sources that is determined to be the cheapest combination of energy. In Maine, this mix is mostly made up of natural gas and hydropower. The Independent System Operator for New England (ISO-NE) ensures that the grid is safely and adequately supplied with energy at all times. You can see the Standard Offer supply mix with live updates here.
Who sets the Standard Offer rate?
Every fall, the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) puts out a call for proposals from different energy supply managers. These companies compete to see who can offer the lowest energy supply prices. Companies are selected by the MPUC. This selection determines the Standard Offer, or default supply rate for the year. The rate is shown on page 3 or 4 of your CMP bill.
Can I opt out of the Standard Offer?
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Some customers choose to opt out of the Standard Offer and instead sign a contract with an alternative supplier. These suppliers are often called Competitive Electricity Providers, or CEPs. While they may offer lower rates initially or promise to use cleaner energy sources, it is important to read the full contract and keep track of any increasing costs. Most often, these CEPs end up having higher costs than the Standard Offer. You can learn more about CEPS through the Office of the Public Advocate here.
What if I have solar or subscribe to a community solar farm?
If you have solar panels on your roof, your supply comes from those panels directly when the sun is shining. You’ll receive a credit from the utility for every unit of energy (kWh) that your solar array sends out to the grid (your neighbors can use this energy!). These credits can then be used to offset any usage that you need to pull from the grid when your solar array isn’t producing at night. Once a credit is produced, it can roll over for 12 months until it expires.
If you’re subscribed to a community solar farm, your supply comes from an offsite solar array. Often, your community solar provider will assign you a portion of a solar farm based on the amount of energy you use per year. Similar to rooftop solar, for every kWh of energy your portion of the solar farm produces, you get a kWh credit from the utility to offset your usage. Since more credits are produced in the summertime, when production is higher, you may see higher costs; you are purchasing credits to build up in your “banked generation” for when production is lower during the winter. This means that you will see savings in the long term, but costs may fluctuate, and some months may be higher than the standard offer. Other community solar providers, like the Maine Community Power Cooperative, will assign you credits based on your usage so that you are always saving on your electric bill.
Delivery
The delivery portion of your bill represents charges that come directly from your utility company (such as CMP or Versant). These are divided into three categories: transmission, distribution, and “other.”
Transmission
You pay the utility company to build and replace the towers and substations that transport power over long distances.
Distribution
You pay the utility company to build and replace the poles and wires that deliver power to your home.
Other costs
Other costs not directly related to transmission or distribution are referred to as “stranded costs.”These include storm recovery and utility programs. Some of these programs actually save ratepayers money, such as the Efficiency Maine Trust and programs that help electricity users who have trouble paying their bills. These costs are decided at a separate public utilities commission (PUC) hearing.
The utility will apply these charges through a fixed charge and a per-kWh rate. There are other rate structures, including time-of-use and the electric technology rate. With the time-of-use rate, you are charged a significantly higher rate for energy used between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. but a lower rate at other times. With the electric technology rate, you pay a higher fixed cost and a lower per-kWh rate. This rate may save you money if you consistently use high amounts of electricity. The default rate structure for residential ratepayers is called “residential rate A” which will charge you a set rate per kWh of energy you use.
Fixed charge
The fixed charge is the amount you are required to pay the utility just to be connected, even if you use 0 kWh of electricity. If you are on the default residential rate structure, the first 50 kWhs you use are included in this fixed charge. As of January 1, 2026, this amount is $30.21. If the utility wants to raise this price, they can do so by filing with the PUC. This happened in January when the fixed charge increased to $30.21 from $29.88.
Editor’s Note: This article was collaboratively contributed to Amjambo Africa by a coalition of Maine clean energy and climate advocacy organizations, including Maine Conservation Voters, Maine Community Power Cooperative, Maine Climate Action Now, Our Power, and A Climate to Thrive.
