(a)  In order to facilitate the adoption of solar by customers in multifamily structures, campuses, multi-structure business parks, multi-tenant or multi-owner commercial facilities, and public entities with multiple accounts, the electric distribution company may establish rules and tariffs for program years starting on or after April 1, 2016. The rules and tariffs will set forth the requirements for eligible recipients, credit transfers, consumer protection, and other considerations and terms, with input from the office, for the commission‘s review and approval.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-26

  • Board: shall mean the distributed-generation board as established pursuant to the provisions of Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-3
  • Ceiling price: means the bidding price cap(s) applicable to each annual enrollment for a given distributed-generation class, that shall be approved for each renewable energy class pursuant to the procedure established in this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-3
  • Commission: means the Rhode Island public utilities commission. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-3
  • Company: means and includes a person, firm, partnership, corporation, quasi-municipal corporation, association, joint-stock association or company, and his, her, its, or their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
  • Customer: means a company taking service from an electric distribution company at a single point of delivery or meter location. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
  • Electric distribution company: means a company defined in § 39-1-2(a)(12), supplying standard-offer service, last-resort service, or any successor service to end-use customers, but not including the Block Island Power Company or the Pascoag Utility District. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-3
  • Office: means the Rhode Island office of energy resources. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-3
  • Program year: means a year beginning April 1 and ending March 31, except for the first program year, that may commence after April 1, 2015, subject to commission approval. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-3
  • Shared solar facility: means a single small-scale or medium-scale solar facility that must allocate bill credits to at least two (2), and no more than fifty (50), accounts in the same customer class and on the same or adjacent parcels of land. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-3

(b)  Shared solar facilities will receive the same ceiling price and enroll from the same classes of other projects of the same size and ownership as established by the board for a given program year.

(c)  All customer accounts receiving bill credits shall be in the same customer class and the bill credit value from the shared solar facility shall be determined by the recipients’ rate class and not that of the facility owner. The credit value shall be the distribution, transition, transmission, and standard-offer supply rates of the bill credit recipients.

(d)  Any value of bill credits not transferred from the shared solar facility shall be included in the total performance-based incentive, which shall be paid in accordance with the tariffs established by the electric distribution company.

History of Section.
P.L. 2016, ch. 149, § 5; P.L. 2016, ch. 163, § 5.