Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

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     LC001848
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                         STATE             OF        RHODE               ISLAND
                                           IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
                                         JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021
                                               ____________
                                                 AN ACT
              RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- OFFICE OF ENERGY
                        RESOURCES INTERCONNECTION STANDARDS
                   Introduced By: Representatives Morales, Potter, McGaw, Tanzi, and Giraldo
                   Date Introduced: February 24, 2021
                   Referred To: House Finance
     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
           SECTION 1. Chapter 39-26.3 of the General Laws entitled "Distributed Generation
 Interconnection" is hereby repealed in its entirety.
                                          CHAPTER 39-26.3
                                Distributed Generation Interconnection
           39-26.3-1. Policy objective.
           The general assembly hereby finds and declares that the expeditious completion of the
 application process for renewable distributed generation is in the public interest. For this reason,
 certain standards and other provisions for the processing of applications are hereby set forth to
 assure that the application process assists in the development of renewable generation resources in
 a timely manner.
           39-26.3-2. Definitions.
           The following terms shall have the meanings given below for purposes of this chapter:
           (1) "Applicant" means an electric distribution customer or distributed-generation developer
 who submits an application to the electric distribution company for the installation of a renewable
 distributed-generation interconnection to the distribution system for a renewable distributed-
 generation project that, as contemplated, meets the eligibility requirements for net metering
 contained within this title or the eligibility requirements for a standard contract contained within
 this title.
         (2) "Feasibility study" means a high-level project assessment that includes an estimate of
 the cost of interconnecting to the distribution system that would be assessed on the applicant for an
 interconnection. The estimate is not based on any engineering study, but is based on past experience
 and judgment of the electric distribution company, taking into account the information in the
 application, the location of the interconnection, and general knowledge of the distribution and
 transmission system. The estimate cannot be relied upon by the applicant for purposes of holding
 the electric distribution company liable or responsible for its accuracy as long as the electric
 distribution company has provided the estimate in good faith. The feasibility study estimate shall
 be a range within which the electric distribution company believes the interconnection costs are
 likely to be and shall include a disclaimer that explains the nature of the estimate.
         (3) "Feasibility study fee" means a fee that shall be charged to the applicant to obtain a
 feasibility study as specified in § 39-26.3-4.
         (4) "Impact study" means an engineering study that includes an estimate of the cost of
 interconnecting to the distribution system that would be assessed on the applicant for an
 interconnection that is based on an engineering study of the details of the proposed generation
 project. The estimate generally will have a probability of accuracy of plus or minus twenty-five
 percent (25%). The estimate may be relied upon by the applicant for purposes of determining the
 expected cost of interconnection, but the distribution company may not be held liable or responsible
 if the actual costs exceed the estimate as long as the estimate was provided in good faith and the
 interconnection was implemented prudently by the electric distribution company.
         (5) "Impact study fee" means a fee that shall be charged to the applicant to obtain an impact
 study as specified in § 39-26.3-4.
         (6) "Renewable energy resource" means those resources set forth in § 39-26-5.
         39-26.3-3. Application process.
         (a) The application process set out in this section shall be applicable to electric distribution
 companies thirty (30) days after the enactment of this chapter.
         (b) An applicant for a renewable distributed-generation interconnection must submit an
 application to the electric distribution company for an impact study, including a request for an
 estimate of the cost of interconnecting the renewable distributed-generation resource to the
 distribution system. The applicant may request a feasibility study prior to requesting an impact
 study, but the applicant is not required to do so and may submit an application for an impact study
 without having obtained a feasibility study. The distribution company shall follow the schedule
 below for all applications.
         (c) Upon receipt of a completed application requesting a feasibility study and receipt of the
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 applicable feasibility study fee, the electric distribution company shall provide a feasibility study
 to the applicant within thirty (30) days.
         (d) Upon receipt of a completed application requesting an impact study and receipt of the
 applicable impact study fee, the electric distribution company shall provide an impact study within
 ninety (90) days.
         (e) In anticipation of the electric distribution company needing to add resources that are
 not currently in Rhode Island or covered in rates, to provide the necessary services to advance the
 aggressive goals and objectives set forth in this title, the electric distribution company shall be
 authorized to add up to two (2) incremental employee resources located in Rhode Island that shall
 be primarily dedicated to servicing Rhode Island applicants and customers in connection with net
 metering and the development of distributed-generation resources, including the requisite resources
 to perform impact and feasibility studies for distributed-generation interconnections and to assure
 that feasibility studies and impact studies, as well as other engineering activity necessary to
 facilitate the completion of distributed-generation projects in Rhode Island, are implemented and
 delivered on a timely basis. Prior to new rates going into effect following the company's next
 general rate case filing, the cost of the incremental employee resources shall be recovered through
 rates on an annual basis through an annual reconciliation mechanism, provided that the total amount
 of fees collected from impact studies and feasibility studies shall be netted against such costs. Only
 the cost of time and work actually spent on Rhode Island renewable energy project matters shall be
 included in the annual reconciliation. The commission shall have the authority to review these
 positions in the electric distribution company's next general rate case as a cost of service in the
 same manner as it reviews all other expenses in a rate case to determine whether they should
 continue. Nothing contained in this section shall preclude the electric distribution company from
 adding additional resources, subject to commission approval.
         (f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the application process and fees
 set forth in this chapter apply only to interconnections to the distribution system by renewable
 distributed-generation resources. To the extent that a renewable generation resource seeks an
 interconnection to the transmission system and the interconnection request is governed by rules and
 regulations under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the
 provisions of this chapter shall not apply.
         (g) The rules and fees established in this chapter shall be incorporated within the applicable
 "Standards for Interconnection of Distributed Generation" approved by the commission.
         39-26.3-4. Study cost fees.
         (a) After thirty (30) days from the enactment of this chapter until the end of calendar year
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 2012, the feasibility study fee shall be in accordance with the schedule set forth below:
           (1) Residential applicants for interconnections of UL 1741.1 approved renewable
 distributed generation that is twenty-five kilowatts (25 KW) or less: zero dollars ($0).
           (2) Residential applicants for interconnections of UL 1741.1 approved renewable
 distributed generation that is greater than twenty-five kilowatts (25 KW): fifty dollars ($50.00).
           (3) Nonresidential applicants for interconnections of UL 1741.1 approved renewable
 distributed generation that is one hundred kilowatts (100 KW) or less: one hundred dollars ($100).
           (4) Nonresidential applicants for interconnections of UL 1741.1 approved renewable
 distributed generation that is two hundred fifty kilowatts (250 KW) or less: three hundred dollars
 ($300).
           (5) Nonresidential applicants for interconnections of renewable distributed generation that
 is greater than two hundred fifty kilowatts (250 KW), up to one megawatt (1 MW): one thousand
 dollars ($1,000).
           (6) Nonresidential applicants for interconnections of renewable distributed generation
 greater than one megawatt (1 MW): two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500).
           Beginning January 1, 2013, and for every year thereafter, the commission shall set a new
 fee schedule that is no less than what is specified herein. The purpose of the fee schedule is to
 provide a disincentive to applicants contemplating a renewable distributed-generation project from
 requesting order of magnitude estimates unless they are serious about pursuing such projects.
           (b) After thirty (30) days from the enactment of this chapter until the end of calendar year
 2012, the impact study fee shall be in accordance with the schedule set forth below:
           (1) Residential applicants for interconnections of UL 1741.1 approved renewable
 distributed generation that is twenty-five kilowatts (25 KW) or less: zero dollars ($0).
           (2) Residential applicants for interconnections of UL 1741.1 approved renewable
 distributed generation that is greater than twenty-five kilowatts (25 KW): one hundred dollars
 ($100).
           (3) Nonresidential applicants for interconnections of UL 1741.1 approved renewable
 distributed generation that is one hundred kilowatts (100 KW) or less: five hundred dollars ($500)
           (4) Nonresidential applicants for interconnections of UL 1741.1 approved renewable
 distributed generation that is two hundred fifty kilowatts (250 KW) or less: one thousand five
 hundred dollars ($1,500).
           (5) Nonresidential applicants for interconnections of renewable distributed generation that
 is greater than two hundred fifty kilowatts (250 KW), up to one megawatt (1 MW): five thousand
 dollars ($5,000).
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         (6) Nonresidential applicants for interconnections of renewable distributed generation
 greater than one megawatt (1 MW): ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
         Beginning January 1, 2013, and for every year thereafter, the commission shall set a new
 fee schedule that is no less than what is specified herein. The purpose of the impact study fee
 schedule is to assure that an applicant is responsible for paying a reasonable amount of the cost of
 the study in advance of installing the distributed generation, but that the advance cost is not so high
 as to discourage an applicant from pursuing a project.
         (c) To the extent that an impact study fee established under this section does not cover the
 reasonable cost of an impact study for a given nonresidential project that commences operation,
 the balance of these costs shall be recovered from such applicant through billings after the project
 is online. The electric distribution company may, at its sole election, offset net-metering credits or
 any standard contract payments until the full fee(s) is reimbursed, if it finds it administratively
 convenient to use that means of billing for the balance of the fee for a given project.
         39-26.3-4.1. Interconnection standards.
         (a) The electric distribution company may only charge an interconnecting, renewable
 energy customer for any system modifications to its electric power system specifically necessary
 for and directly related to the interconnection.
         (b) If the public utilities commission determines that a specific system modification
 benefiting other customers has been accelerated due to an interconnection request, it may order the
 interconnecting customer to fund the modification subject to repayment of the depreciated value of
 the modification as of the time the modification would have been necessary as determined by the
 public utilities commission. Any system modifications benefiting other customers shall be included
 in rates as determined by the public utilities commission.
         (c) If an interconnecting, renewable energy customer is required to pay for system
 modifications and a subsequent renewable energy or commercial customer relies on those
 modifications to connect to the distribution system within ten (10) years of the earlier
 interconnecting, renewable energy customer's payment, the subsequent customer will make a
 prorated contribution toward the cost of the system modifications that will be credited to the earlier
 interconnecting, renewable energy customer as determined by the public utilities commission.
         (d) An electric distribution company shall acknowledge to the interconnecting, renewable
 energy customer receipt of an application to initiate the interconnection process within three (3)
 business days of receipt. The electric distribution company shall notify the interconnecting,
 renewable energy customer in writing within ten (10) business days of receipt that the application
 is or is not complete and, if not, advise what is missing. Any disputes regarding whether and when
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 an application to initiate the interconnection process is complete shall be resolved expeditiously at
 the public utilities commission. The maximum time allowed between the date of the completed
 application and delivery of an executable interconnection service agreement shall be one hundred
 seventy-five (175) calendar days or two hundred (200) calendar days if a detailed study is required.
 All electric distribution company system modifications must be completed by the date which is the
 later of: (1) No longer than two hundred seventy (270) calendar days, or three hundred sixty (360)
 calendar days if substation work is necessary, from the date of the electric distribution company's
 receipt of the interconnecting, renewable energy customer's executed interconnection service
 agreement; or (2) The interconnecting, renewable energy customer's agreed-upon extension of the
 time between the execution of the interconnection service agreement and interconnection as set
 forth in writing. All deadlines herein are subject to all payments being made in accordance with the
 distributed-generation interconnection tariff on file with the public utilities commission and the
 interconnection service agreement. These system modification deadlines cannot be extended due
 to customer delays in providing required information, all of which must be requested and obtained
 before completion of the impact study. The deadlines for completion of system modifications will
 be extended only to the extent of events that are clearly not under the control of the electric
 distribution company, such as extended prohibitive weather, union work stoppage or force majeure,
 or third-party delays, including, without limitation, delays due to ISO-NE requirements not
 attributable to electric distribution company actions, and that cannot be resolved despite
 commercially reasonable efforts. The electric distribution company shall notify the customer of the
 start of any claimed deadline extension as soon as practicable, its cause and when it concludes, all
 in writing. Any actual damages that a court of competent jurisdiction orders the electric distribution
 company to pay to an interconnecting, renewable energy customer as a direct result of the electric
 distribution company's failure to comply with the requirements of this subsection shall be payable
 by its shareholders and may not be recovered from customers, provided that the total amount of
 damages awarded for any and all such claims shall not exceed, in the aggregate, an amount equal
 to the amount of the incentive the electric distribution company would have earned as provided for
 in §§ 39-26.6-12(j)(3) and 39-26.1-4 in the year in which the system modifications were required
 to be completed. In no event shall the electric distribution company be liable to the interconnecting,
 renewable energy customer for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages
 of any kind whatsoever as a result of the electric distribution company's failure to comply with this
 section.
            (e) On or before September 1, 2017, the public utilities commission shall initiate a docket
 to establish metrics for the electric distribution company's performance in meeting the time frames
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 set forth herein and in the distributed-generation interconnection standards approved by the public