Net  Metering  in  Retail  Choice  States  

Laurel  Varnado  Justin  Barnes  Kevin  Fox  

July  15,  2010  

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Map  of  Retail  Choice  States  

14 States plus D.C. allow retail choice

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General  Market  Structure  of  Deregulation  

• Entails breaking up vertically-integrated companies into distribution utilities and retail suppliers

• Distribution utilities (wires and lines), retail suppliers (energy)

• States have different configurations of these relationships

Goal  of  the  Report  

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Generate a firmer idea for how net metering functions in states with retail choice, including problems that have arisen and their solutions.

•  Utility Definition(s) –  Ex. Delaware: Statute: PSC, municipal utilities and cooperatives must

"Ensure that electric suppliers provide net-metered customers electric service at nondiscriminatory rates..." Statute: "Electric supplier" means a person or entity certified by the Commission that sells electricity to retail electric customers utilizing the transmission and/or distribution facilities of a nonaffiliated electric utility.

•  Net Metering Required for Competitive Suppliers? •  Separate Competitive Supplier Rate Option

Preliminary  Research  Areas  

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• Permitted Meter Configuration • Competitive Billing Configuration

- Ex. New Jersey: Supplier Option. Customer apparently may request to be billed directly by the supplier.

• Other Related Definitions • Rollover Provisions • Charges

- Ex. Connecticut: A customer…with a nameplate capacity of more than ten kilowatts of electricity...shall be assessed for the competitive transition assessment and the systems benefits charge, based on the amount of electricity consumed by the customer…without netting any electricity produced by the customer.

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Initial  Questions  to  Answer • Do  net  metering  laws  apply  to  competitive  suppliers?  If  so  how  and  on  what  terms?  •   How  is  net  metering  accomplished  in  terms  of  physical  metering  and  billing?  Who  has  billing  responsibility?  •   What  happens  to  exported  energy?  •   Might  net  metering  be  irrelevant  in  some  cases  (i.e.,  residential  customers,  large  customers/smaller  system,  NM  capacity  limits?)  

Our  general  approach  to  this  is  to  review  of  statutes  and  regulations  and  sort  out  areas  of  uncertainty  with  stakeholders  (e.g.,  utilities,  competitive  suppliers,  PUC  staff).

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Stakeholder  Questions • Have  there  been  issues  with  administering  net  metering  in  competitive  markets?  If  so,  what  were  the  issues  and  how  were  they  solved?  •   In  states  where  net  metering  is  not  required  for  competitive  suppliers,  do  any  suppliers  offer  net  metering?    

 -  Have  suppliers  considered  it?  Why  or  why  not?    -  What  were  the  deciding  factors?    -  Have  they  received  requests?  

•   Does  competition  for  customers  actually  lead  suppliers  to  offer  net  metering?  •   Is  there  communication  between  different  branches  of  the  same  company  (e.g.,  energy  generation,  retail  sales,  regulated  utility).  

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Additional  Areas  of  Interest • How  is  REC  ownership  determined  in  jurisdictions  where  shared  customer/utility  ownership  exists?  •   For  customer-owned  RECs,  are  there  opportunities  for  REC  transactions  in  conjunction  with  net  metering?    

-  Does  this  currently  occur?    -  Would  this  interest  customer-generators?    -  Would  this  interest  a  competitive  supplier  with  RPS  

compliance  obligations?  •   Do  competitive  rate  options  differ  significantly  in  structure  from  SOS  options?  Do  any  differences  affect  the  value  of  net  metering  to  the  customer,  or  lack  compatibility  with  net  metering  terms?    

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Comments  or  Questions?  Please  contact  us:  

Laurel  Varnado:  lavarnad@ncsu.edu  Justin  Barnes:  justin_barnes@ncsu.edu  

Kevin  Fox:  kfox@keyesandfox.com