SB 131: "An Act relating to net energy metering for retail electricity suppliers and customers."
00 SENATE BILL NO. 131 01 "An Act relating to net energy metering for retail electricity suppliers and customers." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 04 to read: 05 PURPOSE. The purpose of AS 42.45.055, added by sec. 3 of this Act, directing 06 implementation of net energy metering by certain retail suppliers of electricity, is to promote 07 use of alternative energy resources from solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, or hydropower sources 08 in parallel with, and to complement electrical distribution using, power generated by retail 09 supplies of electricity. 10 * Sec. 2. AS 42.05.141(b) is amended to read: 11 (b) The commission shall perform the duties assigned to it under 12 AS 42.45.055(e) and 42.45.100 - 42.45.190 [AS 42.45.100 - 42.45.190]. 13 * Sec. 3. AS 42.45 is amended by adding a new section to read: 14 Sec. 42.45.055. Net energy metering. (a) A retail supplier of electricity 15 providing service to residential or commercial customers shall offer to a customer, at
01 the same proportional fee as a standard meter and without an additional fee, the option 02 of net energy metering that is capable of registering the flow of electricity in two 03 directions if the customer owns or operates an electric generation facility that 04 (1) is located on the customer's premises; 05 (2) has a capacity of not more than 25 kilowatts, but a utility may elect 06 to offer a higher capacity limit; 07 (3) uses solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, or hydropower as its fuel; 08 (4) operates in parallel with the distribution facilities of the retail 09 supplier of electricity; and 10 (5) is intended primarily to offset part or all of the customer's 11 requirements for electricity. 12 (b) If, during any billing period, a customer's facility that uses a net energy 13 meter generates more energy than the customer consumes, the retail supplier of 14 electricity shall credit the customer in kilowatt-hours for the excess amount of energy 15 and, subject to (c) of this section, apply the credits to reduce amounts owed by the 16 customer to the retail supplier in the following billing period or periods until the 17 credits are used. Credits applied in a billing period must be the oldest credits that a 18 customer has generated. 19 (c) At the beginning of each calendar year, kilowatt-hour energy credits 20 accumulated during the previous calendar year and remaining unused at that time 21 revert to the retail supplier of electricity without any compensation to the customer. 22 (d) A retail supplier of electricity 23 (1) shall offer net energy metering to its customers on a first-come, 24 first-served basis until a total net energy metering capacity of up to one percent of the 25 supplier's annual peak energy usage has been reached, but a supplier may adopt a 26 higher capacity limit; 27 (2) may, notwithstanding (1) of this subsection, limit net energy 28 metering installations because of special circumstances related to engineering 29 constraints on the portions of the distribution section affected by the proposed 30 installation. 31 (e) The Regulatory Commission of Alaska shall set the minimum
01 interconnection standards and equipment quality required for a generator to qualify 02 under this section. However, unless, under this subsection, the Regulatory 03 Commission of Alaska 04 (1) prescribes a higher standard, to be eligible for the net energy 05 metering program, a customer's generator must meet the following minimum 06 requirements: 07 (A) one of the following: 08 (i) IEEE 1547 Standard for Interconnecting Distributed 09 Resources with Electric Power Systems; or 10 (ii) IEEE 929 standard for inverters less than 10 11 kilowatts in size; and 12 (B) UL 1741 Standard for Inverters, Converters, and 13 Controllers for Use in Independent Power Systems; and 14 (2) prescribes a higher standard for equipment, interconnection 15 equipment qualifies for the net energy metering program if the equipment 16 (A) has been tested and listed by a nationally recognized testing 17 and certification laboratory for continuous interactive operation with a utility 18 grid; and 19 (B) meets the definition for "certification" under Federal 20 Energy Regulatory Commission Order No. 2006 (18 CFR Part 35). 21 (f) The provisions of (a) - (d) of this section do not apply to a retail supplier of 22 electricity if, except for carbon fuel based generation for standby and emergency 23 power, 100 percent of its power generation is provided by an alternative energy 24 system, as that term is defined in AS 46.11.900. 25 (g) A retail supplier of electricity that sold not more than 1,000,000 26 kilowatt-hours during the supplier's previous fiscal year may exempt itself from the 27 provisions of this section if a majority of the supplier's customers vote in a favor of an 28 exemption 29 (1) at a regular election or special municipality-wide election called for 30 that purpose if the retail supplier of electricity is municipally owned; or 31 (2) at an election held by the retail supplier of electricity if (1) of this
01 subsection does not apply. 02 (h) A retail supplier of electricity shall provide any additional metering 03 required for the retail supplier of electricity to monitor net energy metering of a 04 customer at no cost to the customer. 05 (i) This section does not 06 (1) limit or prohibit a retail supplier of electricity from adopting other 07 programs, in addition to or in combination with net energy metering, that offer 08 incentives for installation of renewable energy systems; or 09 (2) prohibit a customer and a retail supplier of electricity from 10 negotiating an individual power purchase agreement for excess customer generation.