SB0680eng 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB0680 Engrossed LRB095 07321 MJR 27460 b

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by adding Section 16-107.5 as follows:

(220 ILCS 5/16-107.5 new)

Sec. 16-107.5. Net electricity metering.

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that a program to provide net electricity metering, as defined in this Section, for eligible customers can encourage private investment in renewable energy resources, stimulate economic growth, enhance the continued diversification of Illinois' energy resource mix, and protect the Illinois environment.

(b) As used in this Section, (i) "eligible customer" means a retail customer that owns and operates a solar, wind, or other eligible renewable electrical generating facility with a rated capacity of not more than 2,000 kilowatts that is located on the customer's premises and is intended primarily to offset the customer's own electrical requirements; (ii) "electricity provider" means an electric utility or alternative retail electric supplier; (iii) "eligible renewable electrical generating facility" means a generator powered by solar electric energy, wind, dedicated crops grown for electricity generation, anaerobic digestion of livestock or food processing waste, fuel cells or microturbines powered by renewable fuels, or hydroelectric energy; and (iv) "net electricity metering" (or "net metering") means the measurement, during the billing period applicable to an eligible customer, of the net amount of electricity delivered by an electricity provider to the customer's premises or provided to the electricity provider by the customer.

(c) A net-metering facility shall be equipped with metering equipment that can measure the flow of electricity in both directions at the same rate. An eligible customer may choose to use an existing electric revenue meter if the meter is capable of measuring the flow of electricity both into and out of the customer's facility at the same rate and ratio. If the eligible customer's existing electric revenue meter does not meet this requirement, the electricity provider shall install and maintain a new revenue meter at the electricity provider's expense. Any subsequent revenue meter change necessitated by the eligible customer shall be paid for by the customer.

(d) An electricity provider shall measure and charge or credit for the net electricity supplied to eligible customers or provided by eligible customers in the following manner:

(1) If the amount of electricity used by the customer during the billing period exceeds the amount of electricity produced by the customer, the electricity provider shall charge the customer for the net electricity supplied to and used by the customer as provided in subsection (e) of this Section.

(2) If the amount of electricity produced by a customer during the billing period exceeds the amount of electricity used by the customer during that billing period, the electricity provider supplying that customer shall apply a 1:1 kilowatt-hour credit, including delivery charges, to the next bill for service to the customer for the net electricity supplied to the electricity provider. The electricity provider shall continue to carry over any excess kilowatt-hour credits earned and apply those credits to subsequent billing periods to offset any customer-generator consumption in those billing periods until all credits are used or until the end of the annualized period.

(3) At the end of the year or annualized over the period that service is supplied by means of net energy metering, the electricity provider shall compensate the eligible customer for any excess kilowatt-hour credits at the electricity provider's average cost of electricity supply over the same calendar year period. In lieu of compensation, the eligible customer may elect to carry forward any remaining credits to the next annualized period or until the customer leaves the program, whichever may come first.

(e) An electricity provider shall provide to net-metering customers electric service at non-discriminatory rates that are identical, with respect to rate structure, retail rate components, and any monthly charges, to the rates that the customer would be charged if not a net-metering customer. An electricity provider shall not charge net-metering customers any fee or charge or require additional equipment, insurance, or any other requirements not specifically authorized by rule, unless the fee, charge, or other requirement would apply to other similarly situated customers who are not net-metering customers.

(f) For purposes of federal and State laws providing renewable energy credits or greenhouse gas credits, the eligible customer shall be treated as owning and having title to the renewable energy attributes, renewable energy credits, and greenhouse gas emission credits related to any electricity produced by the qualified generating unit. The electricity provider may not condition participation in a net-metering program on the signing over of a customer's renewable energy credits.

(g) Within 120 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, the Commission shall establish standards for net energy metering and the interconnection of eligible renewable generating equipment to the utility system. These standards shall be designed to minimize the procedural barriers, delays, and administrative costs associated with the interconnection of customer generation while ensuring the safety and reliability of such units and the electric utility system. The interconnection standards established under this Section shall be based upon the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard 1547 and shall also include (i) reasonable and fair fees and costs, (ii) clear timelines for major milestones in the interconnection process, (iii) nondiscriminatory terms of agreement, and (iv) any other requirements necessary to ensure that the procedures are equivalent to the current best practices for interconnection of distributed generation.

(h) All electricity providers shall begin to offer net energy metering no later than April 1, 2008.

(i) An electricity provider must offer net energy metering to eligible customers until the load of its net energy metering customers equals 1% of the total peak demand supplied by that electricity provider during the previous year. Electricity providers are authorized to offer net energy metering beyond the 1% level if they so choose.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.