20 Va. Admin. Code § 5-342-60

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 22, June 17, 2024

Section 20VAC5-342-60 - Billing and payment

A. Subscriber organizations shall provide subscriber information to the utility as follows:

1. Subscriber organizations must provide, on a monthly basis and in a standard electronic format and pursuant to this chapter, a subscriber list indicating the kilowatt-hours of generation attributable to each of the subscribers participating in a shared solar facility in accordance with the subscriber's portion of the output of the shared solar facility.

2. Subscriber lists may be updated monthly to reflect canceling subscribers and to add new subscribers.

3. Monthly information must be provided by the fifth business day of the month.

4. Data transfer protocols for exchange of data between the subscriber organization and the utility shall be established to include:

a. Data components;

b. Data format;

c. Timing of monthly data exchanges;

d. Encryption level; and

e. Channel of data submission.

B. A subscriber organization may offer separate billing or consolidated billing service (net crediting) in which the utility will be the billing party to the customer.

1. Where a subscriber organization chooses to use consolidated billing, the subscriber organization's marketing materials and contracts must identify clearly that the utility may charge a net crediting fee not to exceed 1.0% of the bill credit value.

2. Where a subscriber organization chooses to use net crediting, any shared solar subscription fees charged via the net crediting model shall be set to ensure that subscribers do not pay more in subscription fees than they receive in bill credits.

3. All billing of the customer shall occur and comply with the utility's normal billing and credit cycles.

C. Credits to subscriber's bills generated within a monthly billing cycle that exceed the month's bill shall be applied to subsequent bills without restriction.

D. Each utility shall, on a monthly basis and in a standardized electronic format, provide the subscriber organization a report indicating the total value of bill credits generated by the shared solar facility in the prior month, as well as the amount of the bill credit applied to each subscriber.

E. Failure of subscriber to pay any regulated balance charges shall subject the subscriber to the same credit consequences set forth in the utility's commission-approved terms and conditions of service, including potential requirement to post security deposit or disconnection of service. The utility shall advise the subscriber directly of any pending disconnection action for nonpayment consistent with current practice, separate from the customer bill. Such notice shall identify clearly the amount that must be paid and the date by which such amount must be received and provide instructions for direct payment to the utility to avoid disconnection. A subscriber may not be disconnected for nonpayment of unregulated service charges.

F. Bill credits.

1. Bill credits shall be for a particular calendar month, regardless of the billing period or billing cycle of the individual customer's account.

2. Bill credits shall be calculated by multiplying the subscriber's portion of the kilowatt-hour electricity production from the shared solar facility by the applicable bill credit rate for the subscriber. Any portion of a bill credit that exceeds the subscriber's monthly bill shall be carried over and applied to the next month's bill in perpetuity.

3. In the event that all of the electricity generated by a shared solar facility is not allocated to subscribers in a given month, a subscriber organization may accumulate bill credits. The subscriber organization shall provide the utility allocation instructions for distributing excess bill credits to subscribers on an annual basis.

4. The applicable bill credit shall be determined by the commission based upon the subscriber's rate class of as either a residential, commercial, or industrial customer.

5. The utility shall provide bill credits to a shared solar facility's subscribers for not less than 25 years from the date the shared solar facility becomes commercially operational.

6. The bill credits associated with the multi-family shared solar program shall be applied through the utility's fuel factor.

G. Shared solar facility requirements. A shared solar facility must have a utility-provided meter capable of measuring output of the facility on a 30-minute interval basis.

1. The shared solar facility's meter shall not generally be located behind another utility customer account.

2. Costs of installation, maintenance, and reading of the meter shall be part of the administrative costs of the shared solar program billed to the subscriber organization.

20 Va. Admin. Code § 5-342-60

Derived from Virginia Register Volume 37, Issue 11, eff. 1/1/2021.

Statutory Authority: § 12.1-13 and 56-585.1:12 of the Code of Virginia.