SCC Staff proposed amendment (Jan. 17 9.30 am)

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 by regulation a program, to begin no later than [date], which affords eligible customer-generators the opportunity to participate in net energy metering. The regulations may include, but need not be limited to, requirements for (1) retail sellers; (2) owners and/or operators of distribution or transmission facilities; (3) providers of default service; (4) eligible customer-generators; or (5) any combination of the foregoing, as the commission determines will facilitate the provision of net energy metering, provided that the Commission determines that such requirements do not adversely affect the public interest.

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

   2. "eligible customer-generator" means a customer that
      1. is a residential or small commercial customer; and
      2. owns and operates an electrical generating facility that:
         1. has a capacity of not more than 25 kilowatts;
         2. uses as its primary source of fuel 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.

3. The Commission's regulations shall ensure that the metering equipment installed for net metering shall be capable of measuring the flow of electricity in two directions, and shall allocate fairly the cost of such equipment and any necessary interconnection. An eligible customer-generator's solar 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.
   

4. The Commission shall establish minimum requirements for contracts to be entered into by the parties to net metering arrangements. Such requirements shall protect the customer-generator against discrimination by virtue of its status as a customer-generator. Where electricity generated by the customer-generator over a 12-month period exceeds the electricity consumed by the customer-generator, the customer-generator shall not be compensated for the excess electricity unless the entity contracting to receive such electric energy and the customer-generator enter into a power purchase agreement for such excess electricity. 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.
   

5. The Commission may establish regulations authorizing net energy metering by persons who meet the definition of "eligible customer-generator" other than the criterion set forth in (B)(2)(b)(ii), provided that such regulations are otherwise consistent with this section, and provided further that the total amount of generating capacity owned and operated by eligible customer-generators authorized by this subsection shall not exceed 0.1% of each electric distribution company's adjusted peak-load forecast for the previous year.