N.J. Admin. Code § 14:8-7.3

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 21, November 4, 2024

Section 14:8-7.3 - Aggregated net metering general provisions

(a) All electric distribution companies (EDCs) shall, and suppliers may, offer aggregated net metering to eligible customers that operate a solar electric power generation system, provided that the following criteria are met:

1. The eligible customer operates the system using a net metered billing account;

2. The generating capacity of the eligible customer's system does not exceed the combined metered annual energy usage of the customer's qualified facilities;

3. The system is located on property owned by the eligible customer, provided that the property is not land that has been actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use and that is valued, assessed, and taxed pursuant to the Farmland Assessment Act of 1964 at any time within the 10 years prior to July 23, 2012. The municipal planning board of a municipality in which a solar electric power generation system is located may waive the requirement that the land not have been actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use and that is valued, assessed, and taxed pursuant to the Farmland Assessment Act of 1964 at any time within the 10 years prior to July 23, 2012.

4. The system is not an on-site generation system.

(b) All of the customer qualified facilities combined for the purpose of net metering aggregation must be:

1. Located within the service territory of a single electric public utility;

2. Served by the same basic generation provider or by the same electric power supplier; and

3. Belong to the same customer rate class under the applicable electric public utility tariff or are served by the same supplier.

(c) The EDC shall develop a tariff providing for aggregated net metering.

(d) If, in a given monthly period, an eligible customer supplies more electricity to the electric distribution system than the EDC or supplier delivers to the host site, the EDC or supplier shall credit the eligible customer for the excess up to the amount of energy consumed at the host site meter, if any. To do this, the EDC or supplier shall reduce the eligible customer's bill for the next monthly billing period to compensate for the excess electricity from the eligible customer in the previous billing period. Such credit shall not exceed the amount of energy consumed at the host site meter, if any, during the previous billing period.

(e) The EDC or supplier shall carry over credit earned under (d) above from monthly billing period to monthly billing period, and the credit shall accumulate until the end of the eligible customer's annualized period.

(f) At the end of the eligible customer's annualized period, the EDC or supplier shall compensate the eligible customer for any excess kilowatt hours generated, at the electric power supplier's or basic generation service provider's avoided cost of wholesale power, as defined at 14:8-4.2, or the PJM electric power pool real-time locational marginal pricing rate. Excess kilowatt hours, if any, shall be calculated by comparing the generation of the solar electric generation system with the combined energy usage at the qualified facilities over the annualized period.

(g) The EDC or supplier shall offer each eligible customer one opportunity to select an annualized period in accordance with the provisions of 14:8-4.3.

(h) An eligible customer that installs a solar electric generation system owns the renewable attributes of the electricity it generates unless there is a contract with an express provision that assigns ownership of the renewable attributes. The eligible customer may trade or sell the attributes to another person, or may use the attributes as the basis for an application for one or more SRECs.

N.J. Admin. Code § 14:8-7.3