More than a thousand Connecticut residential solar projects that went online in 2022–23 remain without production meters, and utilities and regulators at the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority discussed the operational and customer impacts during a May 1 technical meeting. Eversource said roughly 5,700 systems in its territory initially went into service without a production meter because of supply‑chain constraints; Eversource reported that a little over half of those have since received meters. United Illuminating reported 5,670 systems initially installed without production meters and said about 1,306 remain to be corrected (about 23 percent of that population).
Why it matters: without a production meter utilities cannot finalize incentive payments to third‑party owners and cannot fully report generation into the regional registry (NEPOOL GIS) to create and sell renewable energy certificates (RECs). That delays incentive payments and alters program accounting even though customers generally receive netting credits on their utility bills.
"The main effect that this has is really on the customer experience because it delays incentive payments and delays the customer being on the normal quarterly payment cycle," said Julia Danhe, program manager for the RS program at Eversource. Danhe told the authority that many outstanding meter installations are awaiting municipal inspection sign‑off of the meter socket, not an unpaid utility action.
Eversource Director Brian Rice described the net program cost effect as modest. "The net financial impact is kind of a wash," Rice said, noting that outstanding projects in Eversource territory would be eligible for an incentive of 3.18 cents per kilowatt‑hour while RECs from the same generation would also have market value. "Once the production meter is installed, we'll accept data and both pay out incentives and report generation based on that data," he said.
Utilities and staff identified three common causes for delayed production meter installs: (1) initial allowance of alternative metering during the 2022–23 supply‑chain period, (2) municipal permitting and inspection delays, and (3) installer business practices or, in some cases, installers going out of business. Alexandra Torialba, program manager for RS at United Illuminating, said the remaining UI population represents about 23 percent of UI systems that originally used alternative metering; she added that UI has fewer outstanding cases in absolute terms than Eversource.
PURA staff and commissioners pressed utilities for remedies and options. Utilities said they prefer solutions that do not penalize customers. Eversource suggested several paths PURA might consider: continue current remediation while encouraging installers to complete sockets and inspections; allow limited waivers of meter fees in cases where the installer has failed to complete work and the customer would be delayed; or pursue stronger enforcement actions against installers who repeatedly fail to complete required work. Utilities cautioned against removing projects from the program for missed meter installations because that would harm customers who already have functioning systems on their roofs.
No formal regulatory action was taken during the meeting. Utilities said they will continue outreach to installers and municipal permitting authorities and requested stakeholder input on enforcement options or deadline-based remedies. PURA staff solicited additional data on the number of affected projects by installer and on the municipal inspection timelines to inform any next steps.