We know switching community solar subscriptions can be a headache, and the best time to make the change is different for everyone. Our goal is to help you maximize your savings, keep any banked credits you’ve already paid for, and minimize any gap between subscriptions.
Check out the detailed guidance below to learn when and how to make the switch.
Our team is here to help every step of the way. You can also email your latest electricity bill to support@mainecommunitypower.com, and we’ll estimate the best time for you to switch.
What is a solar credit?
When your rooftop solar array or your current community solar subscription generates more electricity than you use in a month, the excess generation is stored as banked solar credits on your electricity account.
Once a credit is added to your account, it can be banked for 12 months from the date it was added. If you don’t use this credit within those 12 months, it will expire.
How solar credits are applied to your bill
Solar credits are applied to your monthly bill in the following priority:
- Self-generation credits (e.g., from rooftop solar arrays)
- Current month subscription credits (the credits generated by your solar project in the current month)
- Banked solar credits (excess generation from previous months)
How banked credits work
If your community solar subscription has not generated enough credits to offset your electricity usage in a given month, banked credits from your account will be applied to your bill to cover the difference.
When you cancel your community solar subscription you keep your banked credits.
If you’ve been subscribed to a fixed allocation community solar project, it’s possible that you’ll have a large balance of banked credits on your account when you cancel your subscription. Some customers may have enough banked credits to offset several months of electricity usage.
How to switch subscriptions and maximize savings
Because MCPC uses a cascading credit allocation system, we want to ensure that you are able to use all of your banked credits before you are assigned to one of our solar projects. This ensures that you receive the full value of every credit you’ve already paid for, and removes any risk of credits expiring unused.
Cancelling your existing community solar subscription can take up to three months. When we are ready to assign your account to one of our solar projects, we’ll reach out to you about 5 months in advance. We’ll provide instructions for cancelling your existing subscription. After your existing subscription is fully canceled we’ll wait another 1-3 months to assign your account to our project so that we can ensure your full balance of banked credits is utilized.
This is confusing on paper - but our team is here to guide you through the process step-by-step.
months of electricity usage.
Can I keep my current subscription until I'm assigned to an MCPC project?
Yes. You do not need to cancel your current subscription until we assign you to one of our solar projects. Our team will help you coordinate the timing of this cancellation.
What if I want to cancel my subscription now?
If you’re ready to cancel your current community solar subscription, you can cancel by contacting your provider directly.