P.R. Laws tit. 22, § 1014
The Electric Power Authority may propose, as part of its rates, just and reasonable charges to its net metering customers. The Energy Commission shall evaluate said charges as part of the rate proposal of the Authority.
The Energy Commission shall evaluate and determine which charges shall apply to net metering customers, such as the Contribution In Lieu of Taxes, Securitization, Subsidies, and Grants. Both the Authority and the Commission shall take into account the following criteria when proposing and evaluating the net metering customer charges:
(1) The charge to be billed shall be just and shall have the purpose of covering the operating and administrative expenses of the grid services that receives any customer that entered into a Net Metering Agreement. The grid services received by a net metering customer shall be clearly differentiated from the services that the Authority bills on a regular basis to all of its customers.
(2) The charge shall never be excessive or established in such a manner as to constitute an obstacle to the implementation of renewable energy projects.
Any customer that has entered into a net metering agreement as of the approval of this act or that is in the process of evaluating or developing a renewable energy project which shall be interconnected to the system of the Authority shall have a grace period of twenty (20) days, counted as of the approval of this act, during which the charges approved by the Commission shall not be billed. Such grace period shall not apply to customers that increase the renewable energy system’s capacity by up to a maximum of twenty percent (20%); however, this shall not apply to customers that exceed this increase, who shall begin to pay the charges approved by the Commission from the time the increase of the system’s capacity is completed. For projects submitted from the period after the date of approval of this act to the time the final charge for net metering projects is determined and published by the Commission, petitioners shall submit to the Authority, when filing the interconnection evaluation, a deposit in an amount equal to five cents ($0.05) per watt of proposed AC capacity or two thousand dollars ($2,000) for industrial customers, one thousand dollars ($1,000) for commercial customers, and two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for residential customers, whichever is less. Said deposit shall be reimbursed by the Authority within a period not to exceed thirty (30) days after the Interconnection Agreement has been entered into or after the Authority notifies an unfavorable evaluation for a project. In the event of a favorable evaluation, the petitioner shall have a term of two hundred seventy (270) days, counted from the receipt of the notice of the favorable evaluation, to complete the construction of the project and certify the facility. In the event that the project is not completed within the term provided, the petitioner shall lose the deposit. The money collected by the Authority on account of these deposits shall be covered into a special account to defray future expenses related to the evaluation of applications for interconnection. In the event that the project is completed within the established term, the twenty (20)-day grace period previously established shall apply to such agreements, and such period shall only be suspended in the event of an increase in the system’s capacity. The money collected by the Authority on account of the payment of deposits shall not accrue interest.
The Authority may not bill additional charges or increase the monthly energy usage rate to any customer that choses to connect a solar energy system, windmill, or other renewable energy source to the transmission and distribution system of this public corporation.
History —Aug. 16, 2007, No. 114, § 4; Feb. 16, 2016, No. 4, § 29.