NET METERING IN ILLINOIS

The Net Metering Bill passed both houses on May 31, 2007 and became a Public Act on August 24, 2007. The Illinois Commerce Commission issued a final order on net metering plus appendix on December 19, 2007. The statute requires electricity providers to offer net metering to the public no later than April 1, 2008.

Net Metering Highlights:
- eligible renewable generators of 40 kW or less will receive a one-to-one retail rate credit for their excess generation. The electricity provider shall continue to carry over any excess kilowatt-hour credits earned and apply those credits to subsequent billing periods to offset any customer-generator consumption in those billing periods until all credits are used or until the end of the annualized period.  At the end of the year or annualized over the period that service is supplied by means of net metering, or in the event that the retail customer terminates service with the electricity provider prior to the end of the year or the annualized period, any remaining credits in the customer's account shall expire.
- eligible renewable generators between 40 kW and 2 MW will receive credits equal to the utility’s avoided cost for their excess generation;
- net metering customers taking service under time-of-use rates will also be able to take advantage of net metering credits at time-of-use rates;
- credits will be carried over month-to-month, with the annual period running from May to April, or November to October, at the customer’s discretion;
- for the first year (April 2008 to May 2009), utilities are limited to 200 new net metering accounts for systems no greater than 40 kW;
- after March 31, 2009, each utility must offer net metering up to 1 percent of their previous year’s peak demand, although that minimum may be expanded at the utility’s discretion.

Interconnection Highlights:
- all state-jurisdictional DG up to 10 MW are covered;
- 4 levels of review (10 kW; 2 MW; 10 MW non-export; full study process);
- technical requirements based on IEEE 1547;
- rules currently require an external disconnect switch for all customers (we'd like to see this eliminated for the small generators);
- rules currently allow utilities to set their own level of application fees (we'd like to see the final rules specify reasonable and fair fees

LINKS TO UTILITY COMPANIES

ComEd. Maryl Freestone can answer questions about the program at 1-800-825-5436.
Ameren. Brian Cuffle can answer questions about the program -- bcuffle@ameren.com

MORE INFORMATION ON NET METERING

AWEA - What are Net Billing and Net Metering?
DSIRE - Net Metering Rules for Illinois (updated 3/28/2008)
EERE - Green Power Markets: Net Metering Policies