Report Title:

Net Energy Metering; Public Utilities

Description:

Increases the capacity amount of an "eligible customer-generator" from not more than 50 kilowatts to not more than 500 kilowatts. Amends the billing period for net energy metering from monthly to annually.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1555

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

  

STATE OF HAWAII

  

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO NET ENERGY METERING.

 

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

SECTION 1. Section 269-101, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definitions of "eligible customer-generator" and "net energy metering" to read as follows:

""Eligible customer-generator" means a metered residential or commercial customer, including a government entity, of an electric utility who owns and operates a solar, wind turbine, biomass, or hydroelectric energy generating facility, or a hybrid system consisting of two or more of these facilities, with a capacity of not more than [fifty] five hundred kilowatts, that is:

(1) Located on the customer's premises;

(2) Operated in parallel with the utility's transmission and distribution facilities;

(3) In conformance with the utility's interconnection requirements; and

(4) Intended primarily to offset part or all of the customer's own electrical requirements."

""Net energy metering" means measuring the difference between the electricity supplied through the electric grid and the electricity generated by an eligible customer-generator and fed back to the electric grid over [a monthly] an annual billing period; provided that:

(1) Net energy metering shall be accomplished using a single meter capable of registering the flow of electricity in two directions;

(2) An additional meter or meters to monitor the flow of electricity in each direction may be installed with the consent of the customer-generator, at the expense of the electric utility, and the additional metering shall be used only to provide the information necessary to accurately bill or credit the customer-generator, or to collect solar, wind turbine, biomass, or hydroelectric energy generating system performance information for research purposes;

(3) If the existing electrical meter of an eligible customer-generator is not capable of measuring the flow of electricity in two directions, the electric utility shall be responsible for all expenses involved in purchasing and installing a meter that is able to measure electricity flow in two directions;

(4) If an additional meter or meters are installed, the net energy metering calculation shall yield a result identical to that of a single meter; and

(5) An eligible customer-generator who already owns an existing solar, wind turbine, biomass, or hydroelectric energy generating facility, or a hybrid system consisting of two or more of these facilities, is eligible to receive net energy metering service in accordance with this part."

SECTION 2. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun, before its effective date.

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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