House Bill 188

AN ACT TO CREATE THE "MISSISSIPPI RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2011"; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN DEFINITIONS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, AFTER OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT, SHALL ESTABLISH APPROPRIATE RATES, TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR NET-METERING CONTRACTS; TO AUTHORIZE THE COMMISSION TO ALLOW AN ELECTRIC UTILITY TO ASSESS A HIGHER FEE FOR NET-METERING CUSTOMERS IF NEEDED; TO REQUIRE THE COMMISSION TO CREDIT A NET-METERING CUSTOMER WITH ANY ACCUMULATED NET EXCESS GENERATION; TO REQUIRE ANY NET EXCESS GENERATION CREDIT REMAINING IN A NET-METERING CUSTOMER'S ACCOUNT TO EXPIRE AT THE CLOSE OF AN ANNUAL BILLING CYCLE; TO PROVIDE THAT RENEWABLE ENERGY CREDIT CREATED AS THE RESULT OF ELECTRICITY SUPPLIED BY A NET-METERING CUSTOMER IS THE PROPERTY OF THE CUSTOMER THAT GENERATED THE CREDIT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Mississippi Renewable Energy Development Act of 2011."

SECTION 2. The Legislature finds that:

(a) Net energy metering encourages the use of renewable energy resources and renewable energy technologies. Increasing the consumption of renewable energy resources promotes the wise use of this state's natural energy resources to meet a growing energy demand, increases the use of indigenous energy fuels and fosters investment in emerging renewable technologies to stimulate economic development and job creation in this state; and

(b) Mississippi should actively encourage the manufacture of new technologies through promotion of emerging energy technologies. Net energy metering could help to further attract energy technology manufacturers, thereby fulfilling the need for these technologies in the state's economy and easier customer access to these technologies.

SECTION 3. For purposes of this act, the following words and terms shall have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(a) "Commission" means the Mississippi Public Service Commission or other appropriate governing body for an electric utility as defined in this section;

(b) "Electric utility" means a public or investor-owned utility, an electric cooperative, municipal utility or any private power supplier or marketer that is engaged in the business of supplying electric energy to the ultimate consumer or any customer class within the state;

(c) "Net excess generation" means the amount of electricity that a net-metering customer has fed back to the electric utility in excess of the amount of electricity used by that consumer during the applicable period;

(d) "Net metering" means measuring the difference between electricity supplied by an electric utility and the electricity generated by a net-metering customer and fed back to the electric utility over the applicable billing period;

(e) "Net-metering customer" means an owner of a net-metering facility;

(f) "Net-metering facility" means a facility for the production of electrical energy that:

(i) Uses solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal or biomass resources to generate electricity, including, but not limited to, fuel cells and micro turbines that generate electricity if the fuel source is entirely derived from renewable resources;

(ii) Has a generating capacity of not more than twenty-five kilo-watts (25 kW) for residential use or three hundred kilowatts (300 kW) for any other use;

(iii) Is located in Mississippi;

(iv) Can operate in parallel with an electric utility's existing transmission and distribution facilities; and

(v) Is intended primarily to offset part or all of the net-metering customer requirements for electricity.

(g) "Renewable energy credit" means the environmental, economic, and social attributes of a unit of electricity, such as a megawatt hour, generated from renewable fuels that can be sold or traded separately.

SECTION 4. (1) An electric utility shall allow net-metering facilities to be interconnected using a standard meter capable of registering the flow of electricity in two (2) directions.

(2) Following notice and opportunity for public comment, the commission:

(a) Shall establish appropriate rates, terms and conditions for net-metering contracts, including a requirement that metering equipment be installed to accurately measure both the electricity supplied by the electric utility to each net-metering customer and the electricity generated by each net-metering customer that is fed back to the electric utility over the applicable billing period;

(b) May authorize an electric utility to assess a net-metering customer a greater fee or charge, if the electric utility's direct costs of interconnection and administration of net metering outweigh the distribution system, the environmental and public policy benefits of the distribution system, or the environmental and public policy benefits of allocating the costs among the electric utility's entire customer base;

(c) Shall require an electric utility to credit a net-metering customer with any accumulated net excess generation in the next applicable billing period;

(d) May expand the scope of net metering to include additional facilities that do not use a renewable energy resource for a fuel or may increase the peak limits for individual net-metering facilities, if so doing results in desirable distribution system, environmental, or public policy benefits; and

(e) Shall provide the following:

(i) Any net excess generation credit remaining in a net-metering customer's account at the close of an annual billing cycle shall expire; and

(ii) Any renewable energy credit created as the result of electricity supplied by a net-metering customer is the property of the net-metering customer that generated the renewable credit.

SECTION 5. Nothing in this act shall affect the commission's authority to regulate, as applicable, all common carriers and public utilities, particularly the authority to implement rules and regulations to ensure that an electric utility and its ratepayers shall not be adversely affected, or to subsidize activities authorized under this act.

SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2011.