Posts Tagged ‘net metering law and policy’

New Jersey – Net Metering

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

New Jersey – Net Metering

Incentive Type: Net Metering

Eligible Renewable/Other Technologies: Solar Thermal Electric, Photovoltaics, Landfill Gas, Wind, Biomass, Geothermal Electric, Anaerobic Digestion, Tidal Energy, Wave Energy, Fuel Cells using Renewable Fuels

Applicable Sectors: Commercial, Industrial, Residential

Limit on System Size: 2 MW

Limit on Overall Enrollment: No limit

Treatment of Net Excess: Several options exist according to customer preference. Generally, NEG will be credited to customer’s next bill at retail rate with next excess purchased by the utility at the avoided cost rate at the end of an annualized period.

Utilities Involved: Electric distribution companies (does not apply to municipal utilities or electric co-ops)

Interconnection Standards for Net Metering?

Yes

Authority 1: N.J. Stat. § 48:3-87
Date Enacted: 1999 (subsequently amended)
Effective Date: 1999
Authority 2: N.J.A.C. 14:4-9
Date Enacted: 9/13/2004
Effective Date: 10/4/2004

Website: http://www.njcleanenergy.com

Summary:  
Note: In September 2007 the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) approved an order regarding a redesign of the state solar-energy program. As a result, the New Jersey Office of Clean Energy (OCE) has been directed to develop modified interconnection, net metering and renewable portfolio standard (RPS) rules consistent with the program transition. Click here to view the proposed rules.  

New Jersey’s net-metering rules and interconnection standards apply to all residential, commercial, and industrial customers of the state’s investor-owned utilities (and certain competitive municipal utilities and electric cooperatives). Eligible systems include those that generate electricity using solar, wind, geothermal, wave, tidal, landfill gas or sustainable biomass resources, including fuel cells (all “Class I” technologies under the state RPS). The maximum individual system capacity is two megawatts (MW). There is no firm aggregate limit* on net metering. Many supporters of distributed generation believe that New Jersey has the best standards for net metering in the United States.  

A single metering arrangement is preferred. Customer-generators have several compensation options for net excess generation (NEG), listed below: 1. Customer-generator receives month-to-month credit for NEG at the full retail rate and is compensated for remaining NEG at the avoided-cost of wholesale power at the end of an annualized period.  

2. Customer-generator is compensated for all NEG on a real-time basis according to the PJM power pool real-time locational marginal pricing rate, adjusted for losses by the respective zone in the PJM.  

3. Customer generator may enter into a bilateral agreement with their electric supplier or service provider for the sale and purchase of NEG. Real-time crediting is permitted, subject to the applicable PJM rules.

The latter two options were added by S.B. 2936 enacted in January 2008 and effective July 11, 2008. This legislation also: (1) extends net metering to industrial and large commercial customers; (2) extends net metering to all systems that generate electricity using “Class I” renewable-energy resources; and (3) permits utilities to recover the costs of “any new net meters, upgraded net meters, system reinforcements or upgrades, and interconnection costs” through either their regulated rates or from net-metered customers. These changes are not yet reflected in the administrative rules.  

Customers eligible for net metering retain ownership of all renewable-energy credits (RECs) associated with the electricity they generate. Customers with photovoltaic (PV) systems may apply to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to participate in New Jersey’s Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (S-RECs) program, which tracks and verifies solar certificates, and allows the certificates to be sold on-line to electric suppliers to meet suppliers’ solar renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requirements.  

*S.B. 2936 amended this portion of the law by removing a potential financial impact cap of $2 million and by increasing the aggregate capacity trigger to 2.5% (formerly 0.1%) of statewide peak load. As before, the BPU retains discretionary authority over capping net metering if this trigger is met.

Contact:  
Benjamin Scott Hunter
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
Renewable Energy Program Administrator, Office of Clean Energy
44 South Clinton Avenue
P.O. Box 350
Trenton, NJ 08625-0350
Phone: (609) 777-3300 
Fax: (609) 777-3330
E-Mail: benjamin.hunter@bpu.state.nj.us
Web site: http://www.bpu.state.nj.us

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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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