(a) The Commission may establish a program which affords eligible customer-generators the opportunity to participate in net energy metering.

(b) Any net energy metering program established by the Commission shall be subject to the following:

(1) The program may include, as the Commission determines will facilitate the provision of net energy metering, requirements for:

(A) Retail sellers;

(B) Owners or operators of distribution or transmission facilities;

(C) Providers of default service; or

(D) Eligible customer-generators.

(2) The Commission shall ensure that the metering equipment installed for net metering shall be capable of measuring the flow of electricity in 2 directions, and shall allocate fairly the cost of such equipment and any necessary interconnection. An eligible customer-generator’s net metering system for renewable resources, cogeneration, fuel cells, and microturbines shall meet all applicable safety and performance standards. The Commission may adopt by regulation additional control and testing requirements for customer-generators that the Commission determines are necessary to protect public safety and system reliability.

(3) If the electricity supplied by an electricity supplier exceeds the electricity generated by the customer-generator and fed back into the electric grid during the billing period, the customer-generator shall be billed for the net electricity supplied by the electricity supplier in accordance with net metering rules established by the Commission.

(4) If electricity generated by the customer-generator and fed back into the electric grid exceeds the electricity supplied by the electricity supplier, the customer generator may receive compensation based on the net metering rules established by the Commission.

(5) The Commission shall establish additional rules as necessary for the electric company to implement the following provisions:

(A) A community renewable energy facility shall meet all applicable safety and performance standards. The Commission may adopt by rulemaking additional control and testing requirements for community renewable energy facilities that the Commission considers necessary to protect public safety and system reliability.

(B) The owners of, subscribers to, and any subscriber organization controlling a community renewable energy facility shall not be considered public utilities or electricity suppliers solely as a result of their interest or participation in the community renewable energy facility.

(C) Prices paid for subscriptions and contractual matters in a community renewable energy facility shall not be subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission.

(D) The subscriber organization or the third-party owner shall own the renewable energy credits associated with the electricity generated by the community renewable energy facility, unless the credits were explicitly contracted for through a separate transaction independent of any net metering or interconnection agreement or contract.

(E) The owner or operator of each community renewable energy facility shall follow all procedures for interconnection specified in Chapter 40 of Title 15 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations.

(F) All electricity exported to the grid by the community renewable energy facility shall become the property of the SOS administrator, pursuant to § 34-1518.01(h), but shall not be counted toward the electric company’s total retail sales for purposes of Chapter 14A of this title [§ 34-1431 et seq.]. The SOS administrator shall use subscribed energy to offset purchases from wholesale suppliers for standard offer service.

(G) The monetary value of subscribed energy produced by a community renewable energy facility shall be determined as established in this section, as implemented by the Commission.

(H) The amount of electricity generated each month available for allocation as subscribed or unsubscribed energy shall be determined by a revenue quality production meter installed and paid for by the owner of the community renewable energy facility. It shall be the electric company’s responsibility to read the production meter.

(I) The determination of the monetary value of credits allocated to each subscriber to a particular community renewable energy facility shall be based on each subscriber’s percentage interest of the total production of the community renewable energy facility.

(J) Each billing month, the value of the credits allocated to each subscriber shall be calculated by multiplying the quantity of kilowatt hours allocated to each subscriber by the subscriber’s CREF credit rate.

(K) If the value of the credits generated by the community renewable energy facility allocated to the subscriber exceeds the amount owed by the subscriber as shown on the subscriber’s bill at the end of the billing period, the remaining value of the credit shall carry over from month to month until the value of any remaining credits are used.

(L) If the value of the credit generated by the community renewable energy facility allocated to the subscriber is less than the amount owed by the subscriber as shown on the subscriber’s bill at the end of the applicable billing period, the subscriber shall be billed for the difference between the amount shown on the bill and the value of the available credits.

(M) If the subscriber is served by an energy supplier other than the SOS administrator, the subscriber shall be billed by the energy supplier for the full kilowatt-hours consumed by the subscriber during the billing period, and will receive the value of the credits generated by the CREF from the SOS administrator at the subscriber’s CREF credit rate.

(May 9, 2000, D.C. Law 13-107, § 118, 47 DCR 1091; Dec. 13, 2013, D.C. Law 20-47, § 2(c), 60 DCR 15138.)

This section is referenced in § 34-1501.

The 2013 amendment by D.C. Law 20-47 added (b)(5).