65- 407 C.M.R. ch. 312, § 6

Current through 2024-25, June 19, 2024

Section 407-312-6 - BILL CREDIT PROTOCOLS AND PROJECT SPONSOR REQUIREMENTS

A.Commercial or Institutional Distributed Generation

1.Bill Credit. The bill credit for a commercial or institutional customer pursuant to this Chapter shall reflect the energy produced by the customer's distributed generation resource in the prior month. For each billing month, the dollar value of the customer's credit shall be the product of the energy production in kilowatt-hours and the block contract rate for the applicable block, subject to the provisions of this Chapter. Investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities may adjust commercial or institutional customers' billing cycles to administer the provisions of this Chapter.

If the value of a credit to be applied to a customer's bill under this Chapter is less than the amount owed by the customer at the end of the applicable billing period, the customer shall be billed for the difference between the amount shown on the bill and the value of the available credit. If the value of the credit to be applied to a customer's bill under this Chapter is greater than the amount owed by the customer at the end of the billing period, the remaining value of the credit shall be carried to the next month. Any credits carried forward that remain unused after 24 months shall have expired.

2.Metering. The monthly energy production of a commercial or institutional distributed generation resource must be determined by a revenue-quality meter, the cost of which shall be paid by the participating customer or project sponsor.

B.Shared Distributed Generation

1.Payment. The project sponsor or subscribers of a shared distributed generation resource that receives a contract under this Chapter shall receive the value of the applicable contract rate for the output of a shared distributed generation resource for the portion of the resource that is subscribed. For any portion not subscribed, the project sponsor shall receive the value obtained by the standard buyer for the output of the shared distributed generation resource.

2.Minimum Subscription Requirements

Each project sponsor of a shared distributed generation resource must verify pursuant to a sworn affidavit submitted in accordance with the procurement announcement and the milestones or other requirements set forth in the project sponsor's contract that the minimum subscription requirements of this Chapter will be or have been met. The Commission may require project sponsors to update this verification on a periodic basis.

Requirements for minimum subscriptions include:

a. At least 50% of the total nameplate capacity of a shared distributed generation resource must be subscribed by (1) subscriptions of 25 kilowatts or less or (2) at least 20% of the total nameplate capacity must be subscribed by subscriptions of 25 kilowatts or less if subscriptions from a municipality or units of municipal government account for more than 30% but not more than 50% of the total nameplate capacity of a shared distributed generation resource; and

b. At least 10% of the total nameplate capacity of a shared distributed generation resource must be subscribed by households with low or moderate income or by organizations serving households with low or moderate income if the subscriptions serve to directly reduce the electricity costs for households with low or moderate income except that, if a municipality or unit of municipal government accounts for more than 50% of the subscriptions to a shared distributed generation resource, 5% of the total nameplate capacity of the shared distributed generation resource must be subscribed by households with low or moderate income or by organizations serving households with low or moderate income if the subscriptions serve to directly reduce the electricity costs for households with low or moderate income.

c. Subscriptions from municipalities or units of municipal government may not account for more than 70% of the nameplate capacity of a shared distributed generation resource.

3.Determination of subscriber bill credit. The bill credit allocated to each subscriber of a shared distributed generation resource shall be based on the subscriber's percentage interest in the shared distributed generation resource for the applicable month. The percentage interest shall be calculated as the subscriber's subscription in kilowatts divided by the nameplate capacity of the resource. For each billing month, the value of the credit allocated to each subscriber shall be calculated as the energy produced by the resource in the prior month in kilowatt-hours multiplied by the subscriber's percentage interest multiplied by the applicable contract rate, subject to the provisions of this Chapter.

The project sponsor must provide to the applicable investor-owned transmission and distribution utility in a standardized and electronic format no later than 3 business days following each calendar month a list of subscribers, account numbers, and all subscriber information required to calculate the bill credits. A credit to a subscriber shall be applied against the subscriber's monthly electricity bill in accordance with this Chapter no later than one billing month following the month during which the energy was generated by the shared distributed generation resource. The investor-owned transmission and distribution utility shall provide a monthly record to the project sponsor of the credit applied to a subscriber within a month after the credits are applied to the subscriber's bill. Investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities may place subscriber customers on the same billing cycle, or make other adjustments, to implement the provisions of this Chapter.

4.Metering . The monthly output available for allocation as subscribed or unsubscribed energy must be determined by a revenue quality meter the cost of which shall be paid for by the project sponsor.

5.Transfer of subscriptions. A subscriber may transfer or assign its subscription or any portion thereof to the project sponsor or to any person or entity that qualifies to be a subscriber in the shared distributed generation resource, subject to the requirement that a subscription must represent at least one (1) kilowatt of the resource's capacity. A project sponsor must provide a process for assignment or transfer of a subscription and include a description of the process in the disclosures required by this Chapter. A project sponsor may not impose transfer fees on a subscriber that moves to a different location within the same utility service territory.

6. Project sponsor report. One year after commercial operation of a shared distributed generation resource commences, the project sponsor shall submit to the Commission a report detailing compliance with the provisions of this Chapter. By order, the Commission may require a project sponsor to submit additional and/or more frequent reports to the Commission detailing compliance with the provisions of this Chapter.

7.Utility costs paid by project sponsor. If a project sponsor pays an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility's costs associated with billing and collection from a subscriber, at the request of a project sponsor the utility shall bill the subscriber on behalf of the project sponsor. Costs under this provision are subject to review by the Commission at the request of either a subscriber or project sponsor.

65- 407 C.M.R. ch. 312, § 6