SECTION 1.  Chapter 164 of the General Laws, as so appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting before the definition of “Aggregator” the following definition:

“Advanced Metering Infrastructure,” means a meter and network communications technology that measures, records, and transmits electricity usage by the end user at a minimum of hourly intervals and is capable of providing data to the end user and authorized third parties in real time or near real time.

SECTION 2.  Chapter 164 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after section 116B the following section:

SECTION 116C:  Advanced Metering Infrastructure

(a)    A distribution company shall implement advanced metering infrastructure in their territories for all customer classes in a timely and cost-effective manner approved by the department.

(b)   Electric customers may opt out of inclusion in the implementation of advanced metering infrastructure with notice to the distribution company. Upon receiving such notice, the distribution company shall remove the customer from the implementation plan, notify the department of the customer’s decision to not be a part of such implementation plan in a manner determined by the department, and charge such a customer any reasonable and necessary fees for delivering non-advanced metering service.

(c)    A non-utility competitive supplier of energy, pursuant to section 1D of chapter 164, may provide consolidated billing services to electric customers utilizing advanced metering infrastructure. For a competitive supplier of energy who implements supplier consolidated billing services for their customers, said competitive supplier of energy shall be subject to the same customer protection rules and requirements as distribution companies for suspension, disconnection, and reconnection of electric services.

(d)   Distribution companies shall implement accelerated switching permitting a residential or small commercial electric customer to change electric suppliers within three business days.  Customers moving within a distribution company’s territory shall be permitted to transfer their competitive supplier of energy directly to their new service location without being required to switch to an interim rate provided by the distribution company or other supplier.

(e)    A non-utility competitive supplier of energy, pursuant to section 1D of chapter 164 or other third party is entitled to access to detailed advanced metering infrastructure customer data, subject to appropriate customer approval and protections. A customer’s intent to enroll on a non-utility competitive supplier of energy or third party’s product is considered approval for the purposes of this section.

(f)    Within 180 days of enactment of this legislation, all distribution companies operating within the state shall submit a plan for implementation of advanced metering infrastructure to the department for approval. The department shall approve or reject such a plan within 90-days of receipt. The department shall provide rules and protocols for ensuring the timely rehearing of a rejected plan and means to make such plans acceptable to the department. All electric companies are expected to have approved plans at the department within 1 year of enactment unless good cause shown. Approved plans should implement advanced metering infrastructure to all customer classes within 5 years of approval, unless the department determines that such a timeline would create undue costs to consumers, compromise reliability of electric service, or compromise safe operation of the electric grid.  Distribution companies shall make regular updates to the department on the progress towards implementing advanced metering infrastructure in their territory, no less than quarterly.

(g)   Distribution companies shall be entitled to recovery of prudent and necessary expenses for the implementation of advanced metering infrastructure. The department may also implement penalties for failure of distribution companies to meet implementation goals.

(h)   The department shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of this section within one year of the implementation of this act.