N.J. Admin. Code § 14:8-9.7

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

Section 14:8-9.7 - Community solar billing

(a) The value of the bill credit shall be set at the current pre-Sales and Use Tax retail rate inclusive of supply and delivery charges, except that for affordable multi-family housing that measures electricity usage with a master meter and is billed on a commercial rate class, the value of the bill credit shall be set at the current pre-Sales and Use Tax retail rate inclusive of supply, delivery, and demand charges. For purposes of the calculation of the bill credit, demand charges shall represent the demand charges paid by all multi-family housing units billed on a commercial rate schedule served by an EDC over the previous energy year divided by the kilowatt-hours used by such units over the previous energy year.

(b) (Reserved)

(c) The calculation of the value of the bill credit shall remain in conformance with retail rate, as determined in (a) above and shall remain in effect for the life of the project, defined as no more than 20 years from the date of commercial operation of the project or the period until the project is decommissioned, whichever comes first.

(d) The calculation of the bill credit shall not include non-bypassable charges. Non-bypassable charges are the Societal Benefits Charge, established at N.J.S.A 48:3-50; the (Market Transition Charge, established at N.J.S.A 48:3-61; the Transition Bond Charge, established at N.J.S.A. 48:3-62; the Zero Emissions Certificate, established at N.J.S.A. 48:3-87.5; and any other applicable charges as defined by the Board.

(e) An annualized period shall be established for each subscriber.

1. The default annualized period shall begin on the day a subscriber first earns a community solar bill credit based on the delivery of energy.

2. The annualized period shall continue for a period of 12 months, until the subscription ends, the subscriber's EDC account is closed, or a different annualized period is selected and accepted, whichever occurs earlier.

3. The EDC shall offer each subscriber one opportunity to select a different date as the start of the subscriber's annualized period. A subscriber may submit their annualized period selection to the EDC at any time. However, an EDC is not required to accept a subscriber's selection of an annualized period that begins before the first full day of the first monthly billing period after the submittal of the selection.

4. Alternatively, a project's subscriber organization may set an annualized period for subscribers that is likely to minimize subscribers' excess net bill credits. In the case of an automatic enrollment project, the project's subscriber organization shall determine and set an annualized period for all subscribers that is likely to minimize subscribers' excess net bill credits.

5. If any subscriber has been participating for one monthly billing period, or more, before it submits its annualized period selection, the following shall apply:

i. If the subscriber has been participating for more than 12 monthly billing periods, the time between the selection submittal and the end of the subscriber's most recently ended annualized period shall be treated as one annualized period; and

ii. If the subscriber has been participating for fewer than 12 monthly billing periods, the time between the first day of the first full monthly billing period after the subscriber's subscription began and the selection submittal shall be treated as one annualized period.

(f) Credits shall carry over from monthly billing period to monthly billing period, with the balance of credits accumulating until the earlier of:

1. The end of the annualized period;

2. The closure of the subscriber's EDC account; or

3. The end of the subscriber's community solar subscription.

(g) At the end of the annualized period and/or when a subscriber's EDC account is closed and/or at the end of the subscriber's community solar subscription, any excess net bill credits greater than the sum of all appropriate billable charges shall be compensated at the EDC's avoided cost of wholesale power, as defined at N.J.A.C. 14:8-4.2. The excess compensation must be returned to the subscriber by bill credit^f, wire transfer, or check]^ or commercially available methods=^.

(h) If a subscriber receives net excess credits for each of the two previous consecutive years, the subscriber organization must resize the subscriber's subscription size to ensure it does not exceed 100 percent of historic annual usage, calculated over the past 12 months, available at the time of the reassessment.

(i) Any generation delivered to the grid that has not been allocated to a subscriber may be banked by the project operator in a dedicated project EDC account for an initial 12-month period after commercial operation. The banked credits may be distributed by the project operator to any new or existing subscriber during that 12-month period or the subsequent 12-month period, in conformance with subscription requirements set forth at N.J.A.C. 14:8-9.6. At the end of the 24-month period and thereafter, any unallocated generation credits shall be compensated at the EDC's avoided cost of wholesale power, as defined at N.J.A.C. 14:8-4.2.

(j) Subscribers must have an active EDC account within the EDC service territory of the community solar project to which they are subscribed.

(k) Subscribers must agree to a remote read smart meter upon EDC request, purchased and installed at EDC cost.

(I) EDCs must nnal<e appropriate data available tlirougfi tine U.S. Department of Energy's Green Button Connect My Data, subject to appropriate privacy protections, an EDC data portal, or an alternative method directed by Board Order.

(m) Board staff shall work with the EDCs to develop a standardized process for sharing subscriber information between subscriber organizations and the EDCs in a way that minimizes errors and administrative costs. As part of this process, the EDCs shall present to Board staff a process by which subscriber organizations can submit the lists of subscribers. This process shall include:

1. A list of all appropriate subscriber information that must be transmitted to the EDC;

2. The standardized form for submission of subscriber information; and

3. The method of submission.

(n) Subscriber organizations shall send to the relevant EDC through the method determined at (m) above, a list of subscribers to the project with all appropriate subscriber information no later than 60 days prior to the first monthly billing period for the community solar project. Additionally, subscriber organizations shall send an updated list to the EDC once per month, following the method determined at (m) above.

(o) The billing process shall be administered by the EDCs, who shall apply the community solar bill credit to subscribers' utility bills in proportion to each subscriber's share of the community solar project as indicated on the most recent list received from the subscriber organization.

1. The method of application of the bill credit (whether as a dollar credit and/or a kWh credit) shall be the same for all community solar projects in the EDC service territory; and

2. The community solar bill credit shall be specifically identified as the community solar bill credit in a separate line on the subscribers' utility bills.

(p) The EDCs shall inform the subscriber organization of the bill credit applied to each subscriber's bill, measured in both kWh and dollar amounts.

(q) By no later than January 1, 2025, each EDC shall develop and implement a method for the consolidated billing of a subscriber's utility bill that includes both the applied bill credit and a subscription fee to be paid to the community solar project owner. The consolidated billing shall incorporate a net crediting model, and the following provisions shall apply:

1. All projects shall bill residential customers through utility consolidated billing; nonresidential customers may be billed through utility consolidated billing or separate billing.

2. The subscriber organization shall include in its data transmission to the EDC the savings rate for each subscriber.

3. Subscribers to the same community solar project may have different bill credit discounts.

4. The savings rate shall be applied to each subscriber's bill in accordance with the bill credit applied against the initial billed amount. The subscription fee shall be the applied bill credit minus the amount discounted by the savings rate.

5. The bill must clearly indicate the value of the bill credit discount and label it as being part of the community solar subscription.

6. The EDC shall remit to the project owners the subscription fee, less a utility administrative fee.

7. An EDC may charge subscriber organizations a utility administrative fee of no more than one percent of the subscription fee to cover the EDCs costs of implementing and administering consolidated billing.

8. Prior to implementation of consolidated billing, each EDC shall file with the Board a manual containing rules for a subscriber organization to implement consolidated billing and what processes a subscriber organization must follow to facilitate consolidated billing of their projects.

9. All projects in the Pilot Program shall bill residential customers through utility consolidated billing within 12 months of the effective date of consolidated billing.

(r) The EDCs may synchronize the monthly billing period of subscribers and projects, by modifying, with due notice given, the monthly billing period for subscribers upon their first month of participation in the community solar project.

(s) The Board may modify standards to ensure billing accuracy and information sharing.

N.J. Admin. Code § 14:8-9.7

Administrative correction.
See: 51 N.J.R. 639(b).

Amended by 56 N.J.R. 1990(d), effective 10/7/2024