PETITION OF:

Section 1. Chapter 164 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding, after section 137, the following section:-

Section 138. Net Metering.

Section 138. (a) In this section, unless context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings:

“Net metering”, the process of measuring the difference between electricity delivered by an electric distribution company and electricity generated by a renewable-net-metering facility and fed back to the distribution company.

“Renewable-net-metering facility”, a facility for the production of electrical energy that has a generating capacity of not more than two thousand (2,000) kilowatts, is located on or in the vicinity of a customer’s premise, is intended primarily to offset part or all of that customer’s requirements for electricity, and generates electricity using any of the following: (i) solar photovoltaic or solar thermal electric energy; (ii) wind energy; (iii) ocean thermal, wave, or tidal energy; (iv) fuel cells utilizing renewable fuels; (v) landfill gas; (vi) naturally flowing water and hydroelectric; or (vii) low-emission, advanced biomass power conversion technologies.

“Virtual billing”, enables the combination of all the meters under ownership or lease of a legally established entity in the Commonwealth for the purposes of net metering.

(b) A distribution company customer that uses electricity generated by a renewable-net-metering-facility may elect net metering.

(i) If the electricity generated by the renewable-net-metering facility during a billing period plus any generation credits carried forward from prior billing periods exceeds the customer’s kilowatt-hour usage during the billing period, the customer shall be billed for zero kilowatt-hour usage and the excess generation shall be credited to the customer’s account for the following billing period.

(ii) If the customer’s kilowatt-hour usage exceeds the electricity generated by the renewable-net-metering facility during the billing period plus any generation credits carried forward from prior billing periods, the customer shall be billed for the net kilowatt-hour usage at the applicable rate.

(c) Net metering shall apply to all charges calculated on a kilowatt-hour basis, including distribution, transmission, generation, and transition charges.

(d) Net metering shall be implemented using a single meter. Where an electro-mechanical meter is employed, the meter shall register the flow of electric power in both directions and shall display the net flow. Where a digital meter is employed, it shall be programmed to register the net flow as implemented in electro-mechanical meters, or shall separately register the inward flow to the customer and the outward flow to the distribution company to enable subsequent calculation of the net flow.

(e) Distribution companies are prohibited from imposing special fees or higher rates on net metering customers, such as backup charges, or additional controls or liability insurance as long as the renewable-net-metering facility complies with the applicable interconnection, safety, and power quality standards; provided, however, that distribution companies may charge a net metering customer with a renewable-net-metering facility with a generating capacity greater than 60 kilowatts for the actual cost of any additional metering equipment required to implement net metering.

(f) Virtual billing for municipalities and their associations, businesses and their associations, homeowner or condominium associations, educational or non-profit institutions and their associations shall be permitted.