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MEPUC issued an order approving Versant NEB agreements modifications.

As background, the MEPUC initiated this rulemaking proceeding to update its Net Energy Billing (NEB) rule, Chapter 313, to reflect recently enacted legislation.

Among other things, the MEPUC’s proposal:

• Adds definitions for “benefits of distributed generation under net energy billing,” “net energy billing,” and “net energy billing costs”;
• Amends the definition for “eligible facility” to clarify the various components of eligibility to participate in NEB, including the exceptions that apply for an NEB facility serving a customer that is a municipality, or a customer that is located in a co-op’s territory;
• Changes the current practice of applying the value of expired net energy billing credits to the accounts of AMP customers and instead requires that the value of those credits be used for the benefit of individuals participating in the Low-Income Assistance Program.
• Requires expired credits from the kWh program to be monetized by the utilities and remitted to the MEPUC, which will forward these funds to the Maine State Housing Authority to be disbursed as part of the Low-Income Assistance Program (LIAP);
• Provides for joint responsibility between the utility and the project sponsors for identifying and correcting errors within the time required by ISO-NE tariff or market rules; and
• Implements new requirements for the MEPUC to determine the costs and benefits of net energy billing annually. To determine the costs of NEB, the MEPUC proposes using the approach it currently uses, which is to obtain the information from the utilities through the annual stranded cost proceedings.

Order  (09/18/2024) – Order approving Versant NEB agreements modifications
2023-00284  (Opened 10/25/2023)
Public Utilities Commission Amendments To Net Energy Billing Rule Chapter 313