Colorado – Net Metering
Sunday, July 13th, 2008
Colorado – Net Metering
Incentive Type: Net Metering
Eligible Renewable/Other Technologies: Wind, Biomass, Geothermal Electric, Solar Electric, Recycled Energy, Small Hydroelectric, Fuel Cells using Renewable Fuels
Applicable Sectors: Commercial, Industrial, Residential
Limit on System Size: IOUs: 2 MW
Cooperative and municipal utilities: 10 kW for residential; 25 kW for commercial and industrial
Limit on Overall Enrollment: None
Treatment of Net Excess: Credited to customer’s next bill; IOS: utility pays customer at end of calendar year for excess kWh credits at the average hourly incremental cost for that year
Coops and Munis: annual reconciliation at a rate deemed appropriate by the utility . The annual period is undefined.
Utilities Involved: All IOUs and co-ops; munis with more than 5,000 customers
Interconnection Standards for Net Metering?
Yes. Interconnection is governed by PUC rules for IOUs and co-ops. Per HB08-1160, by 10/1/2008, the PUC must initiate a new rule making to revisit interconnection rules for co-ops. Interconnection rules for munis must be “functionally similar� to PUC rules for IOUs.
Authority 1: 4 CCR 723-3, Rule 3664
Date Enacted: 12/15/2005
Effective Date: 7/2/2006
Authority 2: C.R.S. 40-9.5-301 et seq.
Authority 3: HB 1160 of 2008
Date Enacted: 3/26/2008
Summary:
In December 2005, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) adopted standards for net metering and interconnection, as required by Amendment 37, a renewable-energy ballot initiative approved by Colorado voters in November 2004. The PUC standards apply to the state’s investor-owned utilities (IOUs).
Systems up to two megawatts (MW) in capacity that generate electricity using qualifying renewable-energy resources are eligible for net metering in IOU service territories. Municipal and cooperative utilities are subject to lesser maximums as described below. Electricity generated at a customer’s site can be applied toward meeting a utility’s renewable-generation requirement under Colorado’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS). The RPS mandates that 4% of the renewables requirement be met with solar energy; half of this percentage must come from solar electricity generated at customers’ facilities.
For Colorado’s net-metering rules, any customer net excess generation (NEG) in a given month is applied as a kilowatt-hour (kWh) credit to the customer’s next bill. If in a calendar year a customer’s generation exceeds consumption, the utility must reimburse the customer for the excess generation at the utility’s average hourly incremental cost for the prior 12-month period.
If a customer-generator does not own a single bi-directional meter, then the utility must provide one free of charge. Systems over 10 kilowatts (kW) in capacity require a second meter to measure the output for the counting of renewable-energy credits (RECs). Customers accepting IOU incentive payments must surrender all renewable energy credits (RECs) for the next 20 years. Cooperative and municipal utilities are free to develop their own incentive programs at their discretion but they are not subject to the solar set-aside.
House Bill 08-1160, passed in March 2008, requires municipal utilities with more than 5,000 customers and all cooperative utilities to offer net-metering. The new law allows residential systems up to 10 kW in capacity and commercial and industrial systems up to 25 kW to be credited monthly at the retail rate for any net excess generation their systems produce. Coops and municipal utilities are free to exceed these minimum size standards if they so choose. The statute also requires the utilities to pay for any remaining net excess generation at the end of an annual period but does not define what the annual period is, nor the rate at which it will be paid. The law says that the utilities will make a payment based on a “rate deemed appropriate by the utility”. The new law also required the PUC to open a new rule making to determine if the existing interconnection standards adopted in 4 CCR 723-3, Rule 3665 should be modified for cooperative utilities. Municipal utilities are required to adopt rules “functionally similarâ€? to the existing PUC rules, but may reduce or waive any of the insurance requirements.
Contact:
Richard Mignogna
Colorado Public Utilities Commission
1560 Broadway, Suite 250
Denver, CO 80202
Phone: (303) 894-2871
E-Mail: richard.mignogna@dora.state.co.us
Web site: http://www.dora.state.co.us/PUC
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