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Tesla Supercharger ROI in Maine

Maine splits down the middle of the New England rate map. In the covered Versant Bangor Hydro District, supply is the most visible in the covered set — twelve fixed monthly standard-offer prices, competitively bid and filed in advance for the whole calendar year — and delivery demand is a plain flat charge on the current-month peak, no ratchet, no window. That plainness has a price: at about $37.95 per kilowatt-month all-in, it is the heaviest demand charge in the library. South of the line, Central Maine Power's large-customer class has no filed fixed supply at all — standard-offer prices are set monthly and swung almost threefold inside the trailing year — so the Portland and Turnpike-corridor row models the trailing twelve-month average of those published prices and says so with every result.

What makes Maine economics distinct

Supply certainty, filed a year at a time

Maine's medium-class standard offer files twelve fixed monthly prices for the calendar year in advance — a stronger form of the New Hampshire pattern — and class membership follows the delivery rate class rather than a kilowatt threshold, so a Supercharger-scale secondary-service site in Bangor keeps fixed supply at any size. The modeled rate folds the CY2026 strip; the CY2027 prices file around November 2026.

The heaviest demand charge in the library

M-2 bills about $16.22 of distribution plus $19.75 of transmission per kilowatt-month before the electricity tax fold — roughly $37.95 all-in. There is no ratchet and no window, so the number is plain, but at Supercharger load factors it dominates the bill. Versant files an opt-in EV billing option that swaps the transmission charge to coincident-peak billing — potentially cheaper, stochastic by nature, and the model conservatively carries the default path.

Portland is covered now — with its price honestly stated

Central Maine Power's large time-of-use class has no filed fixed supply: standard-offer prices are set monthly, and the trailing twelve months ran from about 6.4 to 18.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, spiking hard in winter. The modeled CMP row folds the trailing twelve-month average of those published monthly prices — disclosed with every result as an estimate rather than a filed rate — plus ISO-NE capacity charges and the 5.5% sales tax, landing near $34.70 per kilowatt-month of demand and about 11.3 cents of energy. Two honest caveats ride along: the schedule's roughly $9,950 monthly service charge is not modeled, and CMP's filed DC fast-charging rate was cancelled in 2023, so no EV-specific alternative exists.

A live state grant channel, with a Tesla award on record

Efficiency Maine administers the state's roughly $19 million NEVI allocation plus its own trust-funded rounds, and its Phase 10 public DCFC solicitation was live in 2026. The March 2026 round funded twenty DC fast-charging ports across four projects — including a Tesla site at Newport, inside the covered Versant district. A won award enters the model through the grant inputs.

Utilities and tariffs modeled in Maine

Utility & tariffEnergyDemand
Versant Power BHD M-2The filed rate book for this territory records no EV-specific commercial rate, so the modeled cost is the standard schedule. Demand follows the model's conservative convention — 150 kW per stall billed every month, the worst-case coincident peak — so a site whose metered peak runs below that would see a lower demand line. Versant's Bangor Hydro M-2 carries the heaviest per-kW demand rate in this library.14.2¢/kWh flat$37.95/kW of monthly peak
Central Maine Power LGS-S-TOUNo fixed supply price is filed for this customer class — the utility bills supply at market prices that change monthly. The modeled energy figure folds the trailing twelve-month average of the filed monthly prices, an estimate rather than a filed rate; a site's actual supply cost follows the market or a competitive supply contract, and the wizard's energy-rate fields accept a contracted rate in place of the average. Maine's large-class standard offer restates Central Maine Power supply prices every month from forward market prices and bills a monthly capacity charge on each customer's ISO-NE coincident-peak contribution; the modeled average spans August 2025 through July 2026, a window whose published monthly prices ranged from about 6 to 18 cents per kilowatt-hour. The filed $9,952 monthly service charge is not modeled, and CMP's optional EV fast-charger delivery rate was cancelled in 2023.11.3¢/kWh flat$34.70/kW of monthly peak

Rates are digit-verified against each utility's own filed sheets and update within two weeks of any revision. Full derivations are on the methodology page.

See Maine in the US Supercharger Economics Map — every US Supercharger over utility territories colored by the derived effective electricity cost per dispensed kWh.

Maine tax profile

  • Sales tax on hardware: 5.5%
  • Business personal property tax: 1.77% of equipment value (example rate)
  • Clean-fuels credit: no program
  • Per-kWh charging excise: none

Maine tax defaults applied: no clean-fuels credit program exists in Maine (the LCFS revenue line is $0), and LLC costs use the $85 annual report. Sales tax is the statewide 5.5% on hardware with separately stated installation labor untaxed; Maine's 5.5% tax on the whole commercial electric bill, delivery included, is already inside the modeled utility rate. Business personal property is carried at Bangor's mil rate — about 1.77% of value per year — under the conservative reading that a public charging site is a retail sales facility excluded from Maine's business-equipment exemption; if the exemption applies the line is zero, a reimbursement program may refund part of a denied claim, and the field is editable. No per-kWh charging tax exists in Maine.

Maine programs and incentives

Efficiency Maine public DCFC grants (NEVI + trust rounds)

Recurring competitive solicitations for public DC fast charging — the March 2026 round funded 20 ports across four projects, including a Tesla site in Newport; RFP EM-004-2026 (Phase 10) continued the channel. Awards are site-specific and enter the model through the grant inputs.

Versant DC Fast Charging and Storage Eco option

A filed opt-in billing option inside the M-1/M-2 rates that replaces the non-coincident transmission demand charge with coincident-peak billing for separately metered charging — a rate structure rather than a rebate; the model carries the default path.

Maine charging market

Maine hosts roughly a dozen to fifteen Supercharger sites. Most sit in Central Maine Power territory or municipal districts — Kittery, Falmouth, Augusta, Auburn, Rockport, and the two Kennebunk Turnpike plazas, which belong to a consumer-owned local district — and are not covered. The covered Versant Bangor Hydro District serves the Bangor, Brewer, and Ellsworth sites and the I-95 north corridor, with a Newport site funded by a 2026 state award; addresses outside it see a named-utility notice rather than a wrong auto-selection.

Maine Supercharger ROI — questions

Does Maine charge a demand charge on EV charging?
Yes — the covered Versant M-2 rate bills about $37.95 per kilowatt-month all-in, the heaviest in the library, on the plain current-month peak with no ratchet. Neither Maine utility files an EV-exclusive delivery rate; Versant's opt-in coincident-peak option can lower the transmission share and is stated rather than modeled.
How do Bangor and Portland differ in the model?
Bangor's Versant row is built entirely from filed fixed prices — twelve standard-offer months published in advance. Portland's CMP row prices supply from the trailing twelve-month average of the monthly published standard-offer prices, because no fixed rate is filed for the class; that treatment is disclosed with every result, and the wizard accepts a contracted supply rate in its place. Both carry heavy demand lines — Versant at about $37.95 and CMP near $34.70 per kilowatt-month all-in.
Does Maine tax charging equipment as business property?
By default yes — Maine's business-equipment exemption excludes retail-facility equipment, and the conservative reading treats a public charging site as retail, putting Bangor's rate near 1.77% of value per year. If the exemption were held to apply, the line would be zero; a state reimbursement program can also refund part of a paid tax. The field is editable.

Sources

Model a Tesla V4 Supercharger site in Maine — payback, NPV, IRR, and a 15-year cash flow from your own inputs.

Run a Maine scenario

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ForgeAsset is software, not investment, tax, or legal advice — outputs are model estimates from your inputs, not guarantees. Rates and programs current as of research; verify current terms with each source before committing capital.