An Act To Replace Net Energy Billing with a Market-based Mechanism

Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §3209-A,  as corrected by RR 2017, c. 1, §32, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

§ 3209-A.  Net energy billing

Sec. 2. 35-A MRSA §3209-B  is enacted to read:

§ 3209-B.  Market-based crediting system

The commission shall adopt rules in accordance with this section to create a market-based crediting system for energy generated by an eligible facility.

Sec. 3. Community solar procurement. The Public Utilities Commission shall procure, to the maximum extent possible, 20 megawatts of large-scale community solar distributed generation resources in accordance with the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 3210-C by December 31, 2020. The long-term contract rate must be calculated annually, and no long-term contract entered into under this section may be for more than 6¢ per kilowatt-hour or the average wholesale electricity rate over the preceding 12 months, whichever is less. For purposes of this section, "large-scale community solar distributed generation resource" means a solar distributed generation resource with a nameplate capacity of greater than 660 kilowatts.

Sec. 4. Report. The Public Utilities Commission shall conduct an analysis of the costs and benefits to ratepayers for both net energy billing under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 3209-A and the market-based crediting system in Title 35-A, section 3209-B in an adjudicatory proceeding. The analysis must at a minimum look at costs and benefits over a 10-year period and a 25-year period. Upon conclusion of this proceeding, but no later than January 1, 2021, the Public Utilities Commission shall submit a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over utilities and energy matters that includes the results of this proceeding. The Public Utilities Commission shall also explore rate design options that would be in the best interest of ratepayers and support the long-term, sustainable development of distributed generation.

Sec. 5. Rules. The Public Utilities Commission shall amend its net energy billing rule to be consistent with the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 3209-A and adopt rules pursuant to Title 35-A, section 3209-B before January 1, 2020.

summary

This bill does the following regarding net energy billing:

1. It allows an eligible customer to elect net energy billing until December 31, 2019, after which time no new net energy billing arrangements may be allowed;

2. It allows net energy billing arrangements entered into prior to December 31, 2019 to remain in effect until December 31, 2034;

3. It prohibits a transmission and distribution utility from requiring a customer to meter the gross output of an eligible facility in order to participate in net energy billing; and

4. It limits to 50 the number of eligible customers that may participate in a single shared interest in an eligible facility or the number of meters associated with a single shared interest, except in the service territory of a transmission and distribution utility located in an area administered by the independent system administrator for northern Maine.

The bill establishes a market-based crediting system for energy generated by eligible facilities. It requires the Public Utilities Commission to adopt rules to allow an eligible customer to receive a monetary credit for energy generated by an eligible facility in excess of the customer's usage and exported to the grid at the real-time wholesale market price of that energy. As in the provisions relating to net energy billing, a transmission and distribution utility is prohibited from requiring a customer to meter the gross output of an eligible facility in order to participate in the crediting system, and the number of eligible customers that may participate in a single shared interest in an eligible facility, or the number of meters associated with a single shared interest, is limited to 50. The bill exempts a transmission and distribution utility located in an area administered by the independent system administrator for northern Maine, or any successor of the independent system administrator for northern Maine, from using this crediting system until the Public Utilities Commission determines the utility's billing system can perform the necessary functions to implement the system. It requires the commission to consider whether an alternative system to the crediting system for northern Maine could be developed and utilized in the interim period before the utility's billing system is modified to allow a market-based crediting system.

It requires the Public Utilities Commission to procure, to the maximum extent possible, 20 megawatts of large-scale community solar distributed generation resources. It requires that the contract rate be calculated annually and that no contract may be for more than 6¢ per kilowatt-hour or the average wholesale electricity rate over the preceding 12 months, whichever is less.

Lastly, it requires the Public Utilities Commission to conduct an analysis of the costs and benefits to ratepayers for both net energy billing and the market-based crediting system in an adjudicatory proceeding and to report those findings to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over utilities and energy matters no later than January 1, 2021.