MDV-SEIA Proposal - SJR-91 Electric Utility Restructuring Draft - January 13, 1999 version

Page 25 - Insert at Line 20 in place of previously stricken language

§ 56-590.1. Net energy metering provisions.

1. The Commission shall establish a program by January 1, 2000 to afford eligible customer-generators the benefit of net energy metering. As part of the program, the Commission shall establish requirements for (1) retail sellers; (2) owners and operators of transmission facilities; (3) default suppliers; (4) owners and operators of distribution facilities; (5) eligible customer-generators; or (6) any combination of the forgoing, in order to facilitate the provision of net energy metering, including the development and filing with the Commission of a standard, simple policy for interconnection of the customer generators.
   

2. For the purpose of this section,
   
   1. "net energy metering" means measuring the difference between electricity supplied to an eligible customer-generator from the electric grid, and the electricity generated and fed back to the electric grid by the eligible customer-generator over a 12-month period, and applying a corresponding adjustment to the customer-generator's retail electricity bill.
      

   2. "eligible customer-generator" means a customer that,
      
      
      1. owns and operates an electrical generating facility that:
         1. has a capacity of not more than 10 kilowatts;

         2. uses as its source of energy solar, wind, or hydro energy;

         3. is located on the customer's premises;

         4. is interconnected and operated in parallel with an electric company's transmission and distribution facilities; and

         5. is intended primarily to offset all or part of the customer's own electricity requirements.

         6. for a non-residential customer, has a peak generating capacity less than the average electric load of the customer generator.
            

3. The metering equipment installed for net metering shall be capable of measuring the flow of electricity in two directions. The customer-generator shall not be responsible for any additional costs incurred for the metering required for net metering. An eligible customer-generator's electrical generating system shall meet all applicable safety and performance standards established by the National Electrical Code, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and accredited testing laboratories such as Underwriters Laboratories. Beyond the requirements set forth in this section, A customer-generator whose solar electrical generating system meets those standards and rules shall not be required to bear the cost to (i) install additional controls, (ii) perform or pay for additional tests, or (iii) to purchase additional liability insurance.
   

4. The Commission shall establish requirements for a standard contract that will be made available to customer-generators, as prescribed. Each net energy metering contract or tariff shall be identical, with respect to rate structure, all retail rate components, and any monthly charges, to the contract or tariff that the customer would be assigned if the customer were not an eligible customer-generator. Where electricity generated by the customer-generator over a 12-month period exceeds the electricity consumed by the customer-generator, the credit shall revert to the supplier and the customer-generator shall not be compensated for the excess electricity unless the licensed supplier of electric energy and the customer-generator enter into a power purchase agreement for such excess electricity. In any given calendar year, the net metering standard contract or tariff shall be available to eligible customer-generators on a first-come, first-served basis in each electric distribution company's service area until the rated generating capacity owned and operated by eligible customer-generators in the state reached 0.1% of each electric distribution company's adjusted peak-load forecast for the previous year.