Jake Baron, a staff attorney for the Vermont Public Utility Commission, testified Jan. 13 that the commission is broadly neutral on the policy but needs statutory clarifications to carry out its responsibilities. Baron said the draft bill appears to require the commission to develop a notice form but does not require the commission to receive submitted forms or provide an online import tool for utilities.

"We read the bill as requiring the commission to develop the piece of paper and what information is included on it, but the commission will not be responsible for receiving those forms," Baron said, cautioning that utilities likely will receive PDFs by mail or email and use the data for their own processes. He added that each of Vermont’s roughly 17 utilities has different metering and billing systems and that could lead to inconsistent customer outcomes unless the bill is clarified.

Baron also raised technical issues about meters and compensation. He said older analog meters can spin backward and effectively credit exported power, whereas advanced bidirectional meters can record delivered and exported energy on an hourly basis. Baron warned that the bill’s 1,200-watt export limit could be read in ways that allow larger systems to be treated as portable if export controls are installed, and that the draft does not limit how many devices a single customer may attach to an account.

Baron urged the committee to consult utilities about feasibility and to consider the commission’s limited staff and budget for new administrative work. The committee is scheduled to hear utilities through Thursday; no regulatory action was taken at the hearing.