General Laws committee hears bill to expand net metering, raise system-size caps and change compensation

House Bill 846, filed by Representative Melanie Stinnett, drew hours of testimony at the House Committee on General Laws hearing on Oct. 12, when proponents and opponents debated expanding net metering, how rooftop and commercial solar should be compensated and whether oversight should shift from local utilities to the Public Service Commission.

Stinnett, the bill sponsor, told the committee net metering lets homeowners “plug your solar array into the electrical grid with an offset on your utility bill,” and described three core changes in the bill: increasing exemptions and caps for small systems, raising the statewide interconnection threshold, and changing compensation for excess generation.

Stinnett said the bill would raise a current small‑system exemption (which she said previously exempted systems 10 kilowatts or less) to 100 kilowatts, increase the cap on what a homeowner or small business may net‑meter from 100 kilowatts to 1,000 kilowatts, raise the threshold at which utilities may prohibit further net metering from 5% of peak load to 15%, and require that utilities credit…