Maine's Department of Energy Resources

A conversation with Dan Burgess

By Justin R. Wolf

The Maine Department of Energy Resources (DOER) was established in 2025 on a set of simple yet crucial imperatives: to accelerate clean energy jobs and innovation in the state, provide transparency when it comes to energy markets and electricity pricing, and, perhaps above all, ensure the state meets its clean energy standard goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2040. None of these are especially easy tasks, but they are achievable.

I recently connected with Dan Burgess, DOER’s Acting Commissioner and former Director of the Governor’s Energy Office. Our conversation touched on the many issues his young department is addressing and the challenges that lie ahead.

JUSTIN R. WOLF: The Department of Energy Resources is less than one year old, but it appears to be playing a critical role in guiding the state’s energy policy. Can you elaborate on how DOER came to be and what its mandates were from the onset?

DAN BURGESS: Maine’s first energy office, the Office of Energy Resources, was created in 1973. There have been many iterations of the department over the last 50 years, most recently with the Governor’s Energy Office. We were a small shop that advised the governor and worked with the legislature. And then [Gov. Janet Mills] recognized the important role energy policy played in people’s daily lives and last year signed legislation that elevated the office to a cabinet-level department. There are a lot of states that have that cabinet-level representation … they don’t all look the same, but it’s something Maine didn’t have.

There are other organizations in the state that do energy work, like Efficiency Maine, but that’s a separate, quasigovernmental agency. And you have the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC), which is Maine’s regulatory body. Our department’s focus is on long-term planning, policy and programming initiatives to help bring more affordable, reliable and ultimately cleaner energy to Maine. For example, we have new authority to procure new clean energy resources that can be brought onto the grid, if they’re cost effective. We also have teams focused on energy reliability and preparedness, energy efficiency, clean transportation and economic innovation.

JUSTIN R. WOLF: You mention affordability and reliability—those are certainly top of mind for most Mainers. What can your department do to ensure they’re both trending in the right direction?

DAN BURGESS: You’re really underlying the importance of why we need a cabinet-level energy department. If we go back to fundamentals, Maine has experienced significant energy volatility. After the invasion of Ukraine, heating oil went up to nearly $6 a gallon, kerosene north of $7. And we don’t have indigenous fuels resources in Maine, so it all has to be imported. We’re the most heating-oil reliant state in the country. But, from 2018 to 2024, we went from 62% of Maine homes relying on heating oil down to 50%—a significant drop. That coincided with [Governor Mills’] push for greater heat pump adoption. Because [heat pumps] work better, they’re more efficient, and they save people money.

JUSTIN R. WOLF: On average, yes, heat pumps and home electrification help homeowners save. But what do you say to Mainers who are concerned about rising energy prices and perhaps not seeing the savings they expected?

DAN BURGESS: It’s critical for us to focus on the affordability of not just fuels but electricity as well. On our website we compare real-time price averages of heating fuels, which we gather from weekly surveys. We also track averages for electricity prices; we want consumers to make their own informed decisions. Yes, your electricity bill will rise if you get a heat pump or an electric vehicle, but it is still more cost effective to use electricity.

Compare various heating fuel prices with real-time data, updated weekly during the heating season, using the chart on the DOER website.

JUSTIN R. WOLF: Do you foresee a future when the state adopts time-of-use pricing to incentivize customers to plan energy use when the cost of generating it is lower?

DAN BURGESS: Great question. If you’re with CMP, there’s an optional time-of-use delivery rate. There have been some pilot programs; it’s always an active conversation. We’re building the grid for the hour of highest demand when we all need electricity. Maybe that’s one hour or one week out of the year. The more we can do to reduce and manage peak load the better. That’s why we’re excited about things like energy storage and demand flexibility.

JUSTIN R. WOLF: Renewable sources currently account for 52% of Maine’s electricity use. Maine’s legally mandated goal is to deliver 100% clean, renewable energy by 2040. Is this still achievable?

DAN BURGESS: Our renewable portfolio standard [RPS – a commonly used statewide regulation that requires gradual increases in renewable energy] had been at 30% for years. Then in 2019 we upped that standard to 80% by 2030, which we’re working toward now. That doesn’t mean all energy generation in Maine will be 80% renewable; it means that across New England we are buying our share of credits for [energy] consumption. Recently we upped the RPS to 90% by 2040 and adopted a new Clean Energy Standard to reach 100% clean energy by 2040. We’re going to keep updating our energy plan, see what resources come online, track what’s happening on the demand side, and figure out what we need to do to get there by 2040.

JUSTIN R. WOLF: I’d like to conclude on something that maybe feels a little more palpable, which is the energy coaching pilot program that DOER is designing alongside Efficiency Maine, the Maine Office of Community Affairs, and others. In the Fall 2025 issue of this magazine I profiled the City of York’s energy program and was encouraged to learn about other iterations in places like Rockport and Brooklin. Is it plausible to have this kind of program statewide?

DAN BURGESS: The state legislature directed us to design the program, which we recently released a draft of and opened for public comment. But right now, there is no statewide funding. The question we’re still grappling with is, how do you measure success for a program like that? You want to make sure the coaching program gets results, and that leads to people taking action and saving money. We’re looking at a few different options. Could it be AmeriCorps? Is it coming from folks or contractors already in these communities? We want to be thoughtful about designing a program that’s meant to help people but also guide them toward making some significant financial decisions for their homes.

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This article appeared in the Spring 2026 edition of Green & Healthy Maine HOMES. Subscribe today!

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