SECTION 1. Chapter 164 of the Massachusetts General Laws as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition is hereby amended by inserting after Section 139A the following section:-

     Section 139B.  (a) For the purposes of this section, the following word shall have the following meaning unless the context clearly requires otherwise:-

    “Anaerobic digester tariff”, the default service kilowatt-hour rate of the local distribution company as defined in section 1 that receives electricity from an anaerobic digestion net metering facility.

    (b)  Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department shall require the electric distribution companies to amend the net metering tariff to create a program for anaerobic digestion net metering facilities, as defined in section 138 of chapter 164 of the Massachusetts General Laws, in the commonwealth.  An electric distribution company shall pay an anaerobic digestion net metering facility monthly for electricity it received from the facility based on the kilowatt hours of electricity that the distribution company received from the facility multiplied by the anaerobic digester tariff. A participating anaerobic digestion net metering facility shall notify a distribution company that it intends to deliver electricity pursuant to the anaerobic digester tariff program and shall comply with the distribution company’s applicable reporting and interconnection requirements; provided, however that no more than 50 megawatts of anaerobic digester aggregate capacity statewide shall be permitted to participate in the anaerobic digester tariff program.  The department shall determine an appropriate and proportionate method of allocating costs of anaerobic digestion facilities to ensure that the costs of the program are shared collectively among all ratepayers of the distribution companies.