This bill does the following.
1. It prohibits the recovery in rates of costs incurred by a transmission and distribution utility that are attributable to net energy billing and provides that such costs must be paid from the General Fund. The bill directs the Public Utilities Commission to adopt routine technical rules to identify the types of costs that are attributable to net energy billing.
2. It provides that costs incurred by a transmission and distribution utility for the purchase or contracting required by the commission for energy, renewable energy credits, energy storage systems and transmission infrastructure must be paid from the General Fund.
3. It prohibits an electricity customer in the State who is a participant in an assistance program from purchasing generation service from a competitive electricity provider and requires that the customer be enrolled in standard-offer service.
4. It requires the commission to require a standard-offer service provider to implement time-of-use rates for residential and small commercial customers in the service area of a transmission and distribution utility if the utility has the necessary electric billing and metering services to accommodate time-of-use rates. It also requires the commission to require a transmission and distribution utility that has selected one or more standard-offer service providers to establish electric billing and metering services necessary to accommodate time-of-use rates.
5. It provides that certain costs associated with low-income assistance provided by the commission and an arrearage management program established by a transmission and distribution utility may not be paid by an assessment on the utilities or by electricity customers and instead must be paid from the General Fund.
6. It excepts electricity consumed by residential and small commercial customers from the definition of "tangible personal property" that is subject to sales tax.
7. It limits the applicability of a property tax exemption for solar energy equipment to those that have been approved by the municipality in which the solar energy equipment is located.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 1223, HP 798: 35-A.3214, 36.656, 36.1752