SB1 SFA Kessler 1-20 #3

Baker x7816

 

            Senators Kessler, Unger, Beach, Kirkendoll, Laird, Miller, Palumbo, Prezioso, Romano, Snyder, Stollings and Woelfel moved to amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

            That §24-2F-2, §24-2F-3, §24-2F-4, §24-2F-5, §24-2F-6, §24-2F-7, §24-2F-9, §24-2F-10, §24-2F-11 and §24-2F-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be repealed; and that §24-2F-1 and §24-2F-8 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 2F. NET METERING OF CUSTOMER-GENERATORS.

§24-2F-1. Audit of impact of repealing article.

            This article may be known and cited as the Alternative and Renewable Energy Portfolio Act. During the 2015 regular legislative session, the Legislature repealed the vast majority of this article in an attempt to create jobs and lower utility rates for consumers. The Legislative Auditor shall review the amendments made to this article during the 2015 regular legislative session and analyze the impact that the amendments had on: (1) Whether any jobs were gained or lost as a result of the amendments, including any impact on wages associated with the jobs affected by the amendments, such as wage increases or decreases in existing jobs, wages of jobs lost, wages of new jobs and the net impact on wages; and (2) whether any impact was made on utility rates for West Virginia consumers. The Legislature hereby requires that the Legislative Auditor prepare report of the analysis and findings requested by this section and that the report be both presented to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance and published on the Legislature's website on or before July 1, 2016.§4-2F-8. Net metering and interconnection standards.

            (a) The commission shall adopt a rule requiring that all electric utilities provide a rebate or discount at fair value, to be determined by the commission, to customer-generators for any electricity generation that is delivered to the utility under a net metering arrangement.

            (b) The commission shall also consider adopting, by rule, a requirement that all sellers of electricity to retail customers in the state, including rural electric cooperatives, municipally owned electric facilities or utilities serving less fewer than thirty thousand residential electric customers in this state, offer net metering rebates or discounts to customer-generators.

            (c) The commission shall institute a general investigation for the purpose of adopting rules pertaining to net metering and the interconnection of eligible electric generating facilities intended to operate in parallel with an electric utility’s system. As part of its investigation, the commission shall take into consideration rules of other states within the applicable region of the regional transmission organization, as that term is defined in 18 C. F. R. §35.34, that manages a utility’s transmission system in any part of this state. Furthermore, the commission shall consider increasing the allowed kilowatt capacity for commercial customer-generators to an amount not to exceed five hundred kilowatts and for industrial customer-generators to an amount not to exceed two megawatts. The commission shall further consider interconnection standards for combined heat and power.

            (d) The commission shall promulgate these rules within twelve months of the effective date of this article.

            (e) The commission shall adopt a rule requiring that all electric utilities allow for customer- generators to transfer any accrued net meter credits to a utility-approved nonprofit that provides relief to customers in need of financial assistance.

            (f) Net meteringmeans measuring the difference between electricity supplied by an electric utility and electricity generated from an alternative or renewable energy resource facility owned or operated by an electric retail customer when any portion of the electricity generated from the alternative or renewable energy resource facility is used to offset part or all of the electric retail customer's requirements for electricity.

            (g) Customer-generatormeans an electric retail customer who owns and operates a customer-sited generation project utilizing an alternative or renewable energy resource or a net metering system in this state.

            (h) The commission shall assure that any net metering tariff does not create a cross subsidization between customers within one class of service.

Adopted

Rejected