Article 4: PROVISIONS
RELATING TO GAS AND ELECTRIC
CORPORATIONS; REGULATION OF PRICE OF GAS AND
ELECTRICITY
§ 66-j. Net
energy metering for residential solar or farm waste
electric generating systems.
1. Definitions. As used in this section,
the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Customer-generator" means: (i) a residential customer of an
electric corporation, who owns or operates solar electric generating
equipment located and used at his or her residence; and (ii) a customer
of an electric corporation, who owns or operates farm waste electric
generating equipment located and used at his or her "farm operation," as
such term is defined in subdivision eleven of section three hundred one
of the agriculture and markets law.
(b) "Net energy meter" means a non-demand, non-time differentiated
meter that measures the reverse flow of electricity to register the
difference between the electricity supplied by an electric corporation
to the customer-generator and the electricity provided to the
corporation by that customer-generator.
(c) "Net energy metering" means the use of a net energy meter to
measure, during the billing period applicable to a customer-generator,
the net amount of electricity supplied by an electric corporation and
provided to the corporation by a customer-generator.
(d) "Solar electric generating equipment" means a photovoltaic system
with a rated capacity of not more than ten kilowatts that is
manufactured, installed, and operated in accordance with applicable
government and industry standards, that is connected to the electric
system and operated in conjunction with an electric corporation's
transmission and distribution facilities, and that is operated in
compliance with any standards and requirements established under this
section.
(e) "Farm waste electric generating equipment" means equipment that
generates electric energy from biogas produced by the anaerobic
digestion of agricultural waste, such as livestock manure, farming
wastes and food processing wastes with a rated capacity of not more than
four hundred kilowatts, that is:
i. manufactured, installed, and operated in accordance with applicable
government and industry standards;
ii. connected to the electric system and operated in conjunction with
an electric corporation's transmission and distribution facilities;
iii. operated in compliance with any standards and requirements
established under this section;
iv. fueled at a minimum of ninety percent on an annual basis by biogas
produced from the anaerobic digestion of agricultural waste such as
livestock manure materials, crop residues, and food processing waste;
and
v. fueled by biogas generated by anaerobic digestion with at least
seventy-five percent by weight of its feedstock being livestock manure
materials on an annual basis.
2. Interconnection and net energy metering. An electric corporation
shall provide for the interconnection of residential solar and farm
waste electric generating equipment owned or operated by a
customer-generator and for net energy metering, provided that the
customer-generator enters into a net energy metering contract with the
corporation or complies with the corporation's net energy metering
schedule and complies with standards and requirements established under
this section.
3. Conditions of service. (a) On or before three months after the
effective date of this section, each electric corporation shall develop
a model contract and file a schedule that establishes consistent and
reasonable rates, terms and conditions for net energy metering to
customer-generators, according to the requirements of this section. The
commission shall render a decision within three months from the date on
which the schedule is filed. Each electric corporation shall make such
contract and schedule available to customer-generators on a first come,
first served basis, until the total rated generating capacity for
residential solar electric generating equipment owned or operated by
customer-generators in the corporation's service area is equivalent to
one-tenth percent of the corporation's electric demand for the year
nineteen hundred ninety-six, as determined by the department and the
total rated generating capacity for farm waste electric generating
equipment owned or operated by customer-generators in the corporation's
service area is equivalent to four-tenths percent of the corporation's
electric demand for the year nineteen hundred ninety-six, as determined
by the department.
(b) Nothing in this subdivision shall prohibit a corporation from
providing net energy metering to additional customer-generators. The
commission shall have the authority, after January first, two thousand
five, to increase the percent limits if it determines that additional
net energy metering is in the public interest.
(c) In the event that the electric corporation determines that it is
necessary to install a dedicated transformer or transformers to protect
the safety and adequacy of electric service provided to other customers,
a customer-generator shall pay the electric corporation's actual costs
of installing the transformer or transformers:
(i) In the case of a customer-generator who owns or operates solar
electric generating equipment located and used at his or her residence;
up to a maximum amount of three hundred fifty dollars.
(ii) In the case of a customer-generator who owns or operates farm
waste electric generating equipment located and used at his or her "farm
operation," up to a total amount of three thousand dollars per "farm
operation".
(d) An electric corporation shall impose no other charge or fee,
including back-up, stand by and demand charges, for the provision of net
energy metering to a customer-generator, except as provided in paragraph
(d) of subdivision four of this section.
4. Rates. An electric corporation shall use net energy metering to
measure and charge for the net electricity supplied by the corporation
and provided to the corporation by a customer-generator, according to
these requirements:
(a) In the event that the amount of electricity supplied by the
corporation during the billing period exceeds the amount of electricity
provided by a customer-generator, the corporation shall charge the
customer-generator for the net electricity supplied at the same rate per
kilowatt hour applicable to service provided to other customers in the
same service class which do not generate electricity onsite.
(b) In the event that the amount of electricity produced by a
customer-generator during the billing period exceeds the amount of
electricity used by the customer-generator, the corporation shall apply
a credit to the next bill for service to the customer-generator for the
net electricity provided at the same rate per kilowatt hour applicable
to service provided to other customers in the same service class which
do not generate electricity onsite.
(c) At the end of the year or annualized over the period that service
is supplied by means of net energy metering, the corporation shall
promptly issue payment at its avoided cost to the customer-generator for
the value of any remaining credit for the excess electricity produced
during the year or over the annualized period by the customer-generator.
(d) With respect to customer-generators that own or operate farm waste
electric generating equipment, in the event that the corporation imposes
charges based on kilowatt demand on customers who are in the same
service class as the customer-generator but which do not generate
electricity on site, the corporation may impose the same charges at the
same rates to the customer-generator, provided, however, that the
kilowatt demand for such demand charges is determined by the maximum
measured kilowatt demand actually supplied by the corporation to the
customer-generator during the billing period.
5. Safety standards. (a) On or before three months after the effective
date of this section, each electric corporation shall establish
standards that are necessary for net energy metering and the
interconnection of residential solar or farm waste electric generating
equipment to its system and that the commission shall determine are
necessary for safe and adequate service and further the public policy
set forth in this section. Such standards may include but shall not be
limited to:
(i) equipment necessary to isolate automatically the residential solar
and farm waste generating system from the utility system for voltage and
frequency deviations; and
(ii) a manual lockable disconnect switch provided by the
customer-generator which shall be located on the outside of the
customer's premises and externally accessible for the purpose of
isolating the residential solar and farm waste electric generating
equipment.
(b) Upon its own motion or upon a complaint, the commission, or its
designated representative, may investigate and make a determination as
to the reasonableness and necessity of the standards or responsibility
for compliance with the standards.
(i) In the case of a customer-generator who owns or operates solar
electric generating equipment located and used at his or her residence;
an electric corporation may not require a customer-generator to comply
with additional safety or performance standards, perform or pay for
additional tests, or purchase additional liability insurance provided
that the residential solar or farm waste electric generating equipment
meets the safety standards established pursuant to this paragraph.
(ii) In the case of a customer-generator who owns or operates farm
waste electric generating equipment located and used at his or her "farm
operation," an electric corporation may not require a customer-generator
to comply with additional safety or performance standards, perform or
pay for additional tests, or purchase additional liability insurance
provided that:
1. the electric generating equipment meets the safety standards
established pursuant to this paragraph; and
2. the total rated generating capacity (measured in kW) of farm waste
electric generating equipment that provides electricity to the electric
corporation through the same local feeder line, does not exceed twenty
percent of the rated capacity of that local feeder line.
(iii) In the event that the total rated generating capacity of farm
waste electric generating equipment that provides electricity to the
electric corporation through the same local feeder line exceeds twenty
percent of the rated capacity of the local feeder line, the electric
corporation may require the customer-generator to comply with reasonable
measures to ensure safety of that local feeder line.
6. Electric restructuring. Notwithstanding the provisions of this
section, including, but not limited to paragraph (b) of subdivision
three of this section, a customer-generator shall comply with any
applicable determinations of the commission relating to restructuring of
the electric industry.
7. Severability of provisions. The provisions of this section shall be
severable and if the application of any clause, sentence, paragraph,
subdivision, section, or part thereof to any person or circumstance
shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid,
such judgment shall not necessarily affect, impair, or invalidate the
application of any such clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision,
section, part or remainder thereof, as the case may be, to any other
person, circumstance, but shall be confined in its operation to the
clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part thereof
directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have
been rendered.