Bill Text: MS HB526 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: "Mississippi Agricultural Renewable Energy Development Act of 2011"; create.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Failed) 2011-02-01 - Died In Committee [HB526 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2011-HB526-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2011 Regular Session
To: Agriculture; Public Utilities
By: Representative Baker (74th)
House Bill 526
AN ACT TO CREATE THE "MISSISSIPPI AGRICULTURAL RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2011"; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN DEFINITIONS; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS OF ELECTRICITY PROVIDERS THAT PROVIDE NET METERING; TO PROVIDE THAT ANY EXCESS KILO-WATT HOURS (KWH) CREDITS EARNED BY CUSTOMER-GENERATORS ARE TO BE APPLIED TO SUBSEQUENT BILLING PERIODS FOR OFFSETTING PURPOSES; TO PROVIDE IF CUSTOMER-GENERATORS CEASE METERING SERVICES, THEN THE ELECTRICITY PROVIDERS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO PROVIDE COMPENSATION FOR ANY OUTSTANDING EXCESS KWH; TO REQUIRE THAT ELECTRICITY PROVIDERS OFFER ELECTRIC SERVICE AT NONDISCRIMINATORY RATES; TO REQUIRE ELECTRICITY PROVIDERS TO SUBMIT AN ANNUAL NET METERING REPORT TO THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION THAT CONTAINS TOTAL CUSTOMER-GENERATOR FACILITIES, TOTAL RATED GENERATING CAPACITY OF SUCH FACILITIES AND THE TOTAL NUMBER OF KWH RECEIVED FROM NET METERED CUSTOMER-GENERATORS; TO AUTHORIZE CUSTOMER-GENERATORS TO PARTICIPATE IN METER AGGREGATION; TO PROVIDE THE COMMISSION, AFTER OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT, SHALL ESTABLISH APPROPRIATE RATES, TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR NET METERING CONTRACTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Mississippi Agricultural Renewable Energy Development Act of 2011."
SECTION 2. The Legislature finds that:
(a) Net energy metering encourages the use of renewable energy resources and renewable energy technologies. Increasing the consumption of renewable energy resources promotes the wise use of this state's natural energy resources to meet a growing energy demand, increases the use of indigenous energy fuels and fosters investment in emerging renewable technologies to stimulate economic development and job creation in this state; and
(b) Mississippi should actively encourage the manufacture of new technologies through promotion of emerging energy technologies. Net energy metering could help to further attract energy technology manufacturers in these industries, thereby fulfilling the need for these technologies in the state's economy as well as easier customer access to these technologies.
SECTION 3. For purposes of this act, the following words and terms shall have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "Biomass" means a power source that is comprised of, but not limited to, combustible residues or gases from forest products manufacturing, waste, byproducts or products from agricultural and orchard crops, waste or co-products from livestock and poultry operations, waste or byproducts from food processing, urban wood waste, municipal liquid water treatment operations and landfill gas;
(b) "Commission" means the Mississippi Public Service Commission or other appropriate governing body for an electricity provider;
(c) "Customer-generator" means any agricultural or forestry customer of an electricity provider that generates electricity on the customer's side of the billing meter with renewable energy generation that is primarily intended to offset part or all of the customer's electricity requirements; however, the customer-generator does not need to be the owner of the renewable energy generation system;
(d) "Electricity provider" means a public or investor-owned utility, an electric cooperative, municipal utility or any private power supplier or marketer that is engaged in the business of supplying electric energy to eligible customer-generators or any customer class within the state;
(e) "Net metering" means a methodology under which electric energy generated by or on behalf of a customer-generator and delivered to the electricity provider's local distribution facilities may be used to offset electric energy provided by the electricity provider to the customer-generator during the applicable billing period;
(f) "Renewable energy generation" means an electrical energy generation system that:
(i) Uses one or more of the following fuels or energy sources for the production of electrical energy: biomass, solar energy, geothermal energy, wind energy, ocean energy, hydroelectric power or hydrogen produced from any of these resources;
(ii) Has a maximum generating capacity of not more than twenty-five Kilowatts (25kW) for residential use or three hundred Kilowatts (300kW) for any other use;
(iii) Is located in Mississippi;
(iv) Can operate in parallel with an electricity provider's existing transmission and distribution facilities; and
(v) Is intended primarily to offset part or all of the customer-generator's requirements for electricity;
(g) "Renewable energy credit" means a tradable instrument that includes all renewable and environmental attributes associated with the production of electricity from a renewable energy generation system.
SECTION 4. (1) The requirements of electricity providers are as follows:
(a) To allow net metering facilities to be interconnected using a standard meter capable of registering the flow of electricity in two (2) directions and to offer net metering to customer-generators with renewable energy generation that is interconnected.
(b) To make net metering available to customer-generators in a timely manner and on a first-come, first-served basis and shall not limit the cumulative, aggregate generating capacity of net-metered systems in any manner.
(c) To develop a net metering tariff that provides for customer-generators to be credited in kilowatt-hours (kWh) at a ratio of 1:1 for any excess production of their generating facility that exceeds the customer-generator's on-site consumption of kWh in the billing period.
(d) To carry over any excess kWh credits earned by a customer-generator and apply those credits to subsequent billing periods to offset the customer-generator's consumption in those billing periods until all credits are used. Any excess kWh credits shall not reduce any fixed monthly customer charges imposed by the electricity provider.
(e) To offer a customer-generator the choice of a time-differentiated energy tariff rate or a nontime-differentiated energy tariff rate, if the electricity provider offers the choice to customers in the same rate class as the customer-generator. If a customer-generator uses a meter and retail billing arrangement that has time-differentiated rates, the electricity provider shall net any excess production against on-site consumption with the same time-of-use period in the billing period. Excess monthly kWh credits shall be based on the ratio representing the difference in retail rates for each time of use period.
(2) If a customer-generator terminates service with the electricity provider or switches electricity providers, the electricity provider is not required to provide compensation to the customer-generator for any outstanding excess kWh credits.
(3) A customer-generator facility used for net metering shall be equipped with metering equipment that can measure the flow of electricity in both directions.
(4) (a) A customer-generator may choose to use an existing electric revenue meter if the following criteria are met:
(i) The meter is capable of measuring the flow of electricity both into and out of the customer-generator's facility; and
(ii) The meter is accurate with a degree of accuracy that the electricity provider requires when measuring electricity flowing from the customer-generator facility to the electric distribution system.
(b) If a customer-generator's existing electric revenue meter does not meet the requirements of this subsection, the electricity provider shall install and maintain a new revenue meter for the customer-generator at the expense of the electricity provider; however, any subsequent revenue meter change necessitated by the customer-generator, whether because of a decision to stop net metering or for any other reason shall be paid for by the customer-generator.
(5) The electricity provider shall not require more than one (1) meter per customer-generator; however, an additional meter may be installed under either of the following circumstances:
(a) The electricity provider may install an additional meter at its own expense if the customer-generator provides written consent; or
(b) The customer-generator may request that the electricity provider install a meter, in addition to the revenue meter prescribed in subsection (4) of this section, at the customer-generator's expense and in such a case, the electricity provider shall charge the customer-generator no more than the actual cost of the meter and its installation.
(6) A customer-generator owns the renewable energy credits associated with the electricity it generates, unless such renewable energy credits were explicitly contracted for through a separate transaction independent of any net metering or interconnection tariff or contract.
(7) An electricity provider shall provide to customer-generators electric service at nondiscriminatory rates that are identical, with respect to rate structure, retail rate components and any monthly charges, to the rates that a customer-generator would be charged if not a customer-generator, including choice of retail tariff schedules.
(8) An electricity provider shall not charge a customer-generator any fee or charge or require additional equipment, insurance or any other requirement not specifically authorized under this act, unless the fee, charge or other requirement would apply to other similarly situated customers who are not customer-generators.
(9) Each electricity provider shall submit an annual net metering report to the commission. The report shall be submitted by June 30 of each year, and shall include the following information for the previous year:
(a) The total number of net metered customer-generator facilities, by resource type;
(b) The total rated generating capacity of net metered customer-generator facilities, by resource type;
(c) The total number of kWh received from net metered customer-generators; and
(d) The total estimated amount of kWh produced by net metered customer-generators, provided that this estimate does not require additional metering equipment.
SECTION 5. (1) If a customer-generator's renewable energy generation system has been approved for interconnection, the electricity provider shall not require a customer-generator to test or perform maintenance on the customer-generator's system except in the case of any testing or maintenance recommended by the system manufacturer.
(2) An electricity provider shall have the right to inspect a customer-generator's system during reasonable hours and with reasonable prior notice to the customer-generator. If an electricity provider finds that the customer-generator's system is not in compliance with requirements of interconnection rules and the requirements of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE)Standard 1547, and noncompliance adversely affects the safety or reliability of the electricity provider's facilities or other customers' facilities, the electricity provider may require the customer-generator to disconnect the facility until compliance is achieved.
(3) Each electricity provider shall make net metering applications available through the Web site of the electricity provider.
SECTION 6. For customer-generators participating in meter aggregation the following shall apply:
(a) For purposes of measuring electricity usage under this section, an electricity provider must, upon request of a customer-generator, aggregate for billing purposes a meter to which the net metering facility is physically attached with one or more meters in the manner set out in this subsection. This requirement is mandatory upon the electricity provider only when:
(i) The additional meter is located on the customer-generator's contiguous property; and
(ii) The additional meter is used to measure only electricity used for the customer-generator's requirements.
(b) A customer-generator must give at least thirty (30) days' notice to the electricity provider to request that additional meters be included in meter aggregation. The specific meters must be identified at the time of the request. If more than one (1) additional meter is identified, the customer-generator must designate the rank order for the additional meter to which net metering credits are to be applied.
(c) The net metering credits will apply only to charges that use kWh as the billing determinant. All other charges applicable to each meter account will be billed to the customer-generator.
(d) If in a monthly billing period the net metering facility supplies more electricity to the electricity provider than the energy usage recorded by the customer-generator's designated meter, the electricity provider will apply credits to additional meters in the rank order provided by the customer-generator, and any remaining credits after doing so will be rolled over to the designated meter for use during the subsequent billing period.
(e) Customer-generators participating in meter aggregation shall not be required to have all meters on the same rate schedule.
SECTION 7. Following notice and opportunity for public comment, the commission:
(a) Shall establish appropriate rates, terms and conditions for net metering contracts, including a requirement that metering equipment be installed to accurately measure both the electricity supplied by the electricity provider to each customer-generator and the electricity generated by each customer-generator that is fed back to the electricity provider over the applicable billing period;
(b) May authorize an electricity provider to assess a customer-generator a cost recovery fee or charge, if the electricity provider's direct costs of interconnection and administration of net metering outweigh the distribution system, the environmental and public policy benefits of the distribution system, or the environmental and public policy benefits of allocating the costs among the electricity provider's entire customer base; and
(c) May expand the scope of net metering to include additional facilities that do not use a renewable energy resource for a fuel or may increase the peak limits for individual net-metering facilities, if so doing results in the desirable distribution system, environmental or public policy benefits.
SECTION 8. Nothing in this act shall affect the commission's authority to regulate, as applicable, all common carriers and public utilities, particularly the authority to implement rules and regulations to ensure that an electric utility and its ratepayers shall not be adversely affected, or to subsidize activities authorized under this act.
SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2011.
