The bill amends the General Laws in Chapter 39-26.4, which pertains to net metering, by introducing new definitions and provisions for community remote net-metering systems, eligible credit recipients, and eligible net-metering resources. It defines a community remote net-metering system as one that generates electricity using an eligible resource and allocates credits to accounts associated with low- or moderate-income housing or to at least three eligible credit-recipient customer accounts, with equitable distribution of credits. The bill also specifies that eligible net-metering resources exclude certain biomass fuels and that systems must be designed to not exceed the user's average annual consumption over the past three years. A significant insertion is that only systems located on or in a preferred site are considered eligible, with "preferred sites" including previously developed areas like landfills, gravel pits, and rooftops.

The bill further refines the scope of net metering by defining terms such as "renewable self-generator," "third party," and "third-party, net-metering financing arrangement." It sets a maximum capacity for eligible net-metering systems at 10 MW for those that have requested and paid for an interconnection study or application, with a 30 MW aggregate limit for community remote net-metering systems until December 31, 2018. The bill exempts certain accounts from back-up or standby rates and allows the electric distribution company to recover revenue shortfalls through a uniform surcharge. It updates the chapter's purpose to align with the state's climate and resilience goals and introduces a new section defining terms relevant to the chapter, such as "Board," "Ceiling price," and "Community remote distributed-generation system." The bill also shifts from encouraging to limiting the siting of renewable energy projects to preferred sites and outlines the process for proposing and approving tariffs with performance-based incentives for eligible renewable-distributed-generation projects. The act would take effect upon passage.