Bill Text: VA HB396 | 2022 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Electric utilities; municipal net energy metering.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2022-04-11 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0388) [HB396 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2022-HB396-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §56-585.1:8 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§56-585.1:8. Pilot program for municipal net energy metering.
A. As used in this section:
"Host account" means the premises on which a municipal customer-generator's electrical generating facility is located.
"Municipal customer-generator" means a single municipality metered account that owns and
or operates,
or that contracts with other persons to own or
operate, an electrical generating
facility that (i) uses as its total source of fuel renewable energy as defined
in §56-576, (ii) has a generating capacity of not more than two
three megawatts, (iii) is located on
land owned or leased by the
municipality's premises
municipality and is connected to the municipality's wiring
on the municipality's side of its interconnection with the utility, (iv) is
interconnected and operated in parallel with the utility's transmission and
distribution facilities, and (v) is intended primarily to offset all or part of
the customer account's own electricity requirements. The capacity of any
generating facility installed under this section,
other than a generating facility located on airports, landfills, parking lots,
parks, post-mine land, or a reservoir that is owned, operated, or leased by the
municipality, shall not exceed the same limitation
established with respect to an eligible customer-generator as set forth in the
definition of such term in subsection B of §56-594.
"Municipality" means any county, city, or town in the Commonwealth, other than a municipality that owns and operates its own electric utility, or any authority created pursuant to the Park Authorities Act (§15.2-5700 et seq.).
"Net energy metering" means measuring the difference, over the net metering period, between (i) electricity supplied to a municipal customer-generator from the electric grid and (ii) the electricity generated and fed back to the electric grid by the municipal customer-generator.
"Net metering period" means the 12-month period following the date of final interconnection of the municipal customer-generator's system with its utility and each 12-month period thereafter.
"Utility" means Phase I Utility or Phase II Utility, as such terms are defined in §56-585.1:3.
B. The Commission shall require each utility to submit a proposal to the Commission to conduct a pilot program for municipal net energy metering in accordance with the following terms, conditions, and restrictions:
1. A pilot program shall be conducted within the service
territory of each utility. The pilot program shall allow any municipal
customer-generator that generates electricity from a renewable energy
generation facility in amounts that exceed the amount of the utility's
electricity consumed by the host
municipal customer-generator host
account to credit one or more of the municipality's target metered accounts (target accounts or beneficial accounts)
or, if the pilot program is conducted by a Phase I Utility, also to metered
accounts of the public school division of the municipality. In each utility's
pilot program, the target accounts may be at one or more other separately
utility-metered public buildings or facilities at contiguous or noncontiguous
sites owned or leased
by the municipality and used for a
public purpose; however, if the pilot program is conducted
by a Phase I Utility, target accounts may also be at one or more other
separately utility-metered buildings or facilities of the public school
division of the municipality. In each utility's pilot program, excess
electricity beyond that used by
the host account shall be credited to the metered account of the target beneficial accounts selected by
the municipal customer in the same municipality, such that the. The virtual net metering credit associated
with the excess electricity shall include generation, transmission,
and distribution charges. The
generation energy charges on the electric bills of such
target's metered beneficial
accounts shall be reduced by the amount of the excess generation kilowatt-hours
apportioned to the metered accounts multiplied by the applicable generation
energy rate of the target's selected beneficial accounts, plus 85 percent of the transmission and
distribution charges associated with the kilowatt-hours apportioned to the
metered accounts. The
generation energy rate of the target's virtual net metering credit
that applies to the beneficial accounts includes all
applicable kilowatt-hour-based
rate adjustment clauses with the exception
of any non-fuel-related or non-generation-related kilowatt-hour-based rate
adjustment clauses and non-bypassable
surcharges. The netting of the amount of electricity
generated and the amount of electricity consumed, and the crediting for the
amount of any excess generation determined as a result of such netting, shall
occur in the twelfth month following the commencement of the host municipal
customer-generator's generation of electricity under a pilot program and
annually thereafter, regardless of the municipal customer-generator's regular
billing period.
2. The pilot program shall not limit the current authority of any municipality to participate in any other net energy metering program.
3. The amount of generating capacity of the generating facilities that are the subject of a pilot program under this section shall not exceed:
a. If the pilot program is conducted by a Phase I Utility, five megawatts although the Phase I Utility may, in its discretion, increase the generating capacity that is part of the program up to 10 megawatts; or
b. If the pilot program is conducted by a Phase II Utility, 25
500 megawatts.
4. The aggregated capacity of all generation facilities that are the subject of each utility's pilot program under this section shall constitute a portion of the existing limit of the utility's adjusted Virginia peak-load forecast of the previous year that is available to (i) municipal customer-generators under this section, (ii) eligible customer-generators and eligible agricultural customer-generators under §56-594, and (iii) small agricultural generators under §56-594.2 in the utility's service area. Municipal customer-generators shall be eligible to participate in a utility's pilot program implemented under this section on a first-come, first-served basis in each utility's Virginia service area until the limits set forth in subdivision 3 are met.
5. Any pilot program conducted under this section shall require that:
a. If conducted by a Phase I Utility or Phase II Utility, each
participating municipality shall be responsible for all
demonstrated administrative costs associated with
implementing the pilot program, including
demonstrated administrative costs associated with crediting
excess generation
electricity to target accounts; and
b. If conducted by a Phase I Utility, the credit for excess energy
electricity, to the extent possible, shall be prioritized
to be directed to accounts at buildings or facilities of the public school
division of the municipality before the credit is directed to any of the
municipality's target accounts.
6. Any pilot program conducted pursuant to this section shall not limit the current authority of any municipality to participate in any other net energy metering program.
7. Neither jurisdictional customers nor non-jurisdictional customers, including those that are members of a joint powers association representing member units of a political subdivision of the Commonwealth, that do not participate in a pilot program under this section shall bear any costs associated with participation in such pilot program by a participating host municipal customer-generator and participating target municipal customer.
C. The duration of any pilot program approved by the Commission pursuant to this section shall be six years or until July 1, 2028, whichever is later. If the pilot program is not extended beyond such initial term, host and target accounts participating at the end of the initial term shall be permitted to continue to participate under the terms of the pilot program that existed during the initial term. The terms of the pilot program shall be included in future contracts for each municipality that elects to continue its program.
D. The Commission shall review the pilot programs established
pursuant to this section in 2021 2024 and every two years
thereafter for the duration of the pilot program.
