This bill amends the General Laws concerning net metering, which is a system that allows electricity consumers to generate their own power and offset their consumption with the energy produced. It introduces new definitions such as "community remote system," "core forest," "eligible credit recipient," and "eligible system." The bill specifies that electric distribution companies cannot limit the eligibility of a net-metering site based on prior consumption and outlines the characteristics of an "Eligible system site." It also revises the definition of "Excess renewable credit," removing the previous cap of 125% and instead tying excess credits to the electric distribution company's avoided cost rate. The commission is granted authority to resolve disputes regarding the applicability of this credit.
Furthermore, the bill defines additional terms related to net metering and adjusts the value of renewable net-metering credits, which will be reduced by 20% for projects after April 15, 2023, and will exclude the distribution kilowatt-hour charge from January 1, 2050. It sets capacity limits for eligible net-metering systems and community remote net-metering systems, with a maximum of 10 MW for the former and a cap of 275 MWac for ground-mounted systems. The bill mandates that electric distribution companies cannot impose additional charges to offset net-metering credits and must reconcile cash payments for renewable net-metering credits annually. It also requires the Rhode Island office of energy resources to redesign the community solar remote net metering program. The act will take effect upon passage, with an insertion regarding net metering policies in Section 39-26.4-3 and no deletions marked in the provided text.