Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-10-28 - Net metering

(A) For purposes of this rule, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) "Advanced meter" means any electric meter that meets the pertinent engineering standards using digital technology and is capable of providing two-way communications with the electric utility to provide usage and/or other technical data.

(2) "CRES provider" means any provider of competitive retail electric service.

(3) "Customer-generator" shall have has the meaning set forth in division (A)(29) of section 4928.01 of the Revised Code. A customer that hosts or leases third party owned generation equipment on its premises is considered a customer-generator.

(4) "Electric utility" shall have has the meaning set forth in division (A)(11) of section 4928.1 of the Revised Code.

(5) "Hospital" shall have has the meaning set forth in division (C) of section 3701.01 of the Revised Code.

(6) "Interval meter" means any electric meter that is capable of measuring interval usage data on at least an hourly basis.

(7) "Microturbine" shall means a turbine or an integrated modular turbine package with a capacity of two megawatts or less.

(8) "Net metering" shall have has the meaning set forth in division (A)(30) of section 4928.01 of the Revised Code.

(9) "Net metering system" shall have has the meaning set forth in division (A)(31) of section 4928.01 of the Revised Code. Net metering system includes all facilities, regardless of whether the customer-generator is on the electric utility's net metering tariff or engaged in net metering with a CRES provider.

(10) "Third party" means a person or entity that may be indirectly involved or affected but is not a principal party to an arrangement, contract, or transaction between other parties.

(B) Net metering.

(1) Each electric utility shall develop a standard net metering tariff and a hospital net metering tariff. The electric utility shall timely make such tariffs available to customer-generators upon request, in a timely manner, and on a nondiscriminatory basis.

(a) Each electric utility shall offer a standard net metering tariff to all customers upon request.

(b) Each electric utility shall offer the hospital net metering tariff to all qualifying hospital customers upon request.

(c)(2) A CRES provider may offer net metering contracts to its customers, consistent with Chapter 4901:1-21 of the Administrative Code, at any price, rate, credit, or refund for excess generation. The CRES provider and the customer shall may define the terms of any contract, including the price, rate, credit, or refund for any excess production by a customer-generator. A CRES provider is not required to enter into any net metering contract with any customer. Only customers who have signed an interconnection agreement with the electric utility may engage in net metering with a CRES provider.

(2)(3) Except as used by hospitals, a net metering system must use as its fuel either solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, or hydropower, or use a microturbine or a fuel cell.

(3) Net metering arrangements shall be made available regardless of the date the customer-generator's net metering system was installed.

(4) The electric utility's standard net metering tariff shall be identical in rate structure, all retail rate components, and any monthly charges, to the tariff to which the same customer would be assigned if that customer were not a customer-generator. Such terms shall not change simply because a customer becomes a customer-generator.

(a) The electric utility shall disclose on the electric utility's website, and to any customer upon request, the name, address, telephone number, and email address of the electric utility's net metering department or contact person.

(b) The electric utility shall provide on the electric utility's website, and to any customer upon request, all necessary information regarding eligibility for the electric utility's net metering tariffs. The electric utility shall also provide this information to any customer, upon request, within a net metering application packet. The website and application packet shall describe and provide the following information in a straightforward manner: net metering tariff terms and conditions, sample net metering and interconnection agreements, and the terms and conditions for eligibility to be a net metering customer-generator. The website and application packet shall also provide information on costs that the customer may incur as a result of net metering enrollment, including any costs associated with the following: application, interconnection, and meter installation.

(5) The electric utility's net metering tariffs shall not require customer-generators to:

(a) Comply with any additional safety or performance standards beyond those established by rules in Chapter 4901:1-22 of the Administrative Code and division (B)(4) of section 4928.67 of the Revised Code in effect as set forth in rule 4901:1-22-03 of the Administrative Code.

(b) Perform or pay for additional tests beyond those required by paragraph (B)(5)(a) of this rule.

(c) Purchase additional liability insurance beyond that required by paragraph (B)(5)(a) of this rule.

(6)(5) A net metering system must be located on the customer-generator's premises. A customer-generator's premises is the area that is owned, operated, or leased by the customer-generator with the metering point for the customer-generator's account. A contiguous lot to the area with the customer-generator's metering point may be considered the customer-generator's premises regardless of easements, public thoroughfares, transportation rights-of-way, or utility rights-of-way, so long as it would not create an unsafe or hazardous condition pursuant to the interconnection standards set forth in Chapter 4901:1-22 of the Administrative Code.

(7)(6) Unless it is a hospital, a customer-generator must intend primarily to offset part or all of the customer-generator's requirements for electricity, regardless of whether the customer-generator is on the electric utility's net metering tariff or engaged in net metering by contract with a CRES provider.

(a) The electric utility shall communicate with and assist a customer-generator in calculating the customer-generator's requirements for electricity based on the average amount of electricity supplied by the electric utility to the customer-generator annually over the previous three years. In instances where the electric utility cannot provide data without divulging confidential or proprietary information, or in circumstances where the electric utility does not have the data or cannot calculate the average annual electricity supplied to the premises over the previous three years due to new construction, vacant properties, facility expansions, or other unique circumstances, the electric utility shall use any available consumption data or measures to establish an appropriate consumption estimate. Upon request from any customer-generator, the electric utility shall provide or make available to the customer-generator either the average electricity supplied to the premises over the previous three years or a reasonable consumption estimate for the premises.

(b) A customer-generator must size its facilities so as to not exceed one hundred twenty per cent of its requirements for electricity at the time of interconnections, regardless of whether the customer-generator intends to take service through an electric utility or a CRES provider.

(8)(7) Net metering shall be accomplished using a single meter capable of registering the flow of electricity in each direction. Upon request from a customer-generator, the electric utility shall provide the customer-generator with a detailed cost estimate of installing an interval meter. If the net metering system is located in an area where advanced meters have been deployed or are proposed to be deployed within twelve months, then the electric utility shall provide the customer-generator with a detailed cost estimate of installing an advanced meter that is also an interval meter.

(a) If a customer-generator requests an advanced meter that is also an interval meter, then such cost shall be paid by the customer-generator through the applicable smart grid rider. If the net metering system is not located in an area where the electric utility has deployed, is deploying, or proposes to deploy within twelve months advanced meters, then the electric utility may install any interval meter.

(b) The electric utility, at its own expense and with the written consent of the customer-generator, may install one or more additional meters to monitor the flow of electricity in each direction. No electric utility shall impose, without commission approval, any additional interconnection requirement or additional charges on customer-generators refusing to give such consent.

(c) If a customer's existing meter needs to be reprogrammed for the customer to become a customer-generator, or to accommodate net metering, then the electric utility shall provide the customer-generator a detailed cost estimate for the reprogramming or setup of the existing meter. The cost of setting up the meter to accommodate net metering shall be at the customer's expense. If a customer-generator has a meter that is capable of measuring the flow of electricity in each direction, is sufficient for net metering, and does not require setup or reprogramming, then the customer-generator shall not be charged for a new meter, setup, or reprogramming to accommodate net metering.

(d) For hospital customer-generators, net metering shall be accomplished using either two meters or a single meter with two registers that are capable of separately measuring the flow of electricity in both directions. One meter or register shall be capable of measuring the electricity generated by the hospital at the output of the generator or net of the hospital's load behind the meter at the time it is generated. If the hospital's existing electric meter is not capable of separately measuring electricity the hospital generates at the time it is generated, the electric utility, upon written request from the hospital, shall install at the hospital's expense a meter that is capable of such measurement.

(9)(8) The measurement of net electricity supplied by the electric utility or received from the customer-generator shall be is calculated in the following manner:

(a) The electric utility shall measure the net electricity produced or consumed during the billing period, in accordance with normal metering practices.

(b) If the electricity supplied by the electric utility exceeds the electricity received from the customer-generator over the monthly billing cycle, then the customer-generator shall be billed for the net electricity consumed by it in accordance with normal metering practices.

(c) For customer-generators on the electric utility's standard net metering tariff, when the electric utility receives more electricity from the customer-generator than it supplied to the customer-generator over a monthly billing cycle, the excess electricity shall be converted to a monetary credit at the energy component of the electric utility's standard service offer that and shall continuously carry carries forward as a monetary credit on the customer-generator's future bills. The electric utility shall not be required to pay the monetary credit, other than to credit it to future bills, and the monetary credit may be lost if a customer-generator does not use the credit or stops taking service from the electric utility.

(d) The hospital net metering tariff shall be based upon the rate structure, rate components, and any charges to which the hospital would otherwise be assigned if the hospital were not a customer-generator and upon the market value of the customer-generated electricity at the time it is generated. comply with division (A)(2) of section 4928.67 of the Revised Code. For purposes of this rule, the The market value means the locational marginal price of energy determined by a regional transmission organization's operational market at the time the customer-generated electricity is generated.

(e) A CRES provider may offer a net metering contract at any price, rate, or manner of credit for excess generation. The CRES provider shall notify the electric utility whenever a net metering contract has been entered into with a customer-generator. The electric utility may move the customer-generator to bill-ready billing, unless the CRES provider and the customer-generator agree to dual billing.

(f) If a customer-generator is net metering with a CRES provider and uses an advanced meter capable of measuring at least hourly interval usage data, the electric utility shall transmit or make available to the CRES provider the customer-generator's interval data for that billing period within twenty-four hours of performing industry-standard validation, estimation, and editing processes. The electric utility shall also transmit or make available to the CRES provider the customer-generator's daily interval usage data within twenty-four hours of performing daily industry-standard validation, estimation, and editing processes.

(g) The electric utility shall at least annually calculate and provide or make available to the CRES provider the individual network service peak load values and peak load contributions of customer-generators engaged in net metering with that CRES provider.

(h) The electric utility shall ensure that any final settlement data sent to a regional transmission organization includes negative loads in the hourly load calculation of any electricity provided to a CRES provider from its customer-generators with hourly interval metering. Load from a customer-generator shall be incorporated in the CRES provider's total hourly energy obligation reported to the regional transmission organization and will offset the CRES provider's reported load to the regional transmission organization. For customer-generators with non-hourly metering, customer generation will offset the CRES provider's energy obligation.

(10)(9) In no event shall the electric utility impose on the customer-generator any charges that relate to the electricity the customer-generator feeds back to the system.

(11)(10) All customer-generators shall comply with the interconnection standards set forth in Chapter 4901:1-22 of the Administrative Code.

(12)(11) Renewable energy credits associated with a customer-generator's net metering facility shall be the property of the customer-generator unless otherwise contracted with an electric utility, CRES provider, or other entity.

(13)(12) The electric utility shall annually report to the commission the total number and installed capacity of customer-generators on the electric utility's net metering tariffs for each technology and consumer class. The electric utility shall provide any other net metering data to the commission upon request and in a timely manner.

Notes

Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-10-28

Effective: 4/8/2024
Five Year Review (FYR) Dates: 10/7/2024
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 4928.06, 4928.11, 4905.28, and 4928.67
Rule Amplifies: 4928.67, 4928.11, and 4905.28
Prior Effective Dates: 09/18/2000, 01/01/2004, 10/22/2007, 06/29/2009, 10/07/2019