SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1838        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2157

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Julian Cyr

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to renewable energy generation and market efficiency.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1838        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2157

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 1946 OF 2019-2020.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act relative to renewable energy generation and market efficiency.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Section 139 of chapter 164 of the General Laws, as amended by chapter 75 of the Acts of 2016, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “require” in the last line of paragraphs (a)(1) and (b)(1/2)(1) and the penultimate line of paragraph (b)(1) the following:-

Such written notice of the identities of the recipients so designated and the amounts of the credits to be attributed to such recipients, and any changes to these designations so requested by the customer, shall be accepted and implemented by the distribution company no less frequently than once per calendar month.

SECTION 2. Said section 139 of said chapter 164 as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “subsection” in the last line of paragraph (b)(1) a comma followed by the words:-“if the customer consents in writing prior to the distribution company’s purchase” 

SECTION 3. Said section 139, as so appearing, is further amended by inserting after subsection (k) the following subsections:

(l) Upon the request of a net metering customer or the owner of a distributed solar generation facility generating an alternative form of on-bill credits as approved by the Department of Public Utilities, in writing either by mail or electronically, a distribution company shall provide, on a monthly basis, written electronic confirmation of the value of all net metering credits or alternative on-bill credits allocated to each designated recipient and the dates and associated billing periods of all such allocations. 

(m) For a Class I Net Metering Facility, Class II Net Metering Facility, or Class III Net Metering Facility, including a facility generating market net metering credits; or a distributed solar generation facility generating an alternative form of on-bill credits as approved by the Department of Public Utilities, no more than sixty days after net metering credits or alternative on-bill credits are generated, the distribution company shall allocate said net metering credits or alternative on-bill credits, as designated by the net metering host customer or distributed solar generation facility owner, to the designated eligible recipients of those net metering credits or alternative on-bill credits. Each distribution company shall correct any error in allocation of net metering credits to the recipient designated by the customer within thirty days of either the distribution company’s discovery of the error, or the customer’s provision of notice of the error to the distribution company, whichever is earlier. Distribution companies shall be responsible for requesting timely approval from the department for amendments to any existing tariffs that may be affected by this subsection.

(n) For a distributed solar generation facility generating an alternative form of on-bill credits as approved by the Department of Public Utilities, distribution companies shall accept and implement no less frequently than once per month any changes to the identities of designated recipients and amount of credits to be attributed to such recipients, as provided by the owner of the solar distributed generation facility.

(o) A distribution company may seek approval from the Department of Public Utilities for recovery of reasonable costs incurred to process net metering credits and alternative on-bill credits in an accurate and timely fashion, including costs associated with necessary information technology upgrades. 

SECTION 4. Section 1 of this act shall be effective January 1, 2022.