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Committee reviews amendment to enable competitive procurement for small customer‑owned distributed generation
Summary
The committee considered amendments to LD 1966 that would authorize the PUC to procure up to 4 MW of small (≤200 kW) customer‑owned distributed generation serving low/moderate‑income customers and to clarify net energy billing rule exceptions; the Public Advocate warned part 'y' could create perverse incentives and urged monetizing REC value and including storage.
In a late afternoon work session the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee reviewed an amendment to LD 1966 that would increase disclosure of utility charges and create a targeted competitive procurement for small customer‑owned distributed generation resources serving low‑ and moderate‑income customers.
Analyst Lindsay walked the committee through new language directing the Public Utilities Commission to issue a solicitation for up to 4 megawatts of eligible projects (individual projects limited to 200 kW), to set contract compensation as a function of the kilowatt‑hour credit value established in statute, and to include contract terms up to 20 years with REC retirement, privacy protections and mandatory data‑sharing for billing and allocation.
The amendment also would carve an exception for truly customer‑owned distributed generation from some net‑energy‑billing consumer‑protection rules and allow exceptions for residential accounts that own distributed resources to hold multiple net‑billing agreements via shared ownership arrangements.
Public Advocate Heather Sanborn said she supported the clarification (part z) to align with prior legislation (LD 1777) but opposed part y — the procurement design — on policy grounds, arguing the proposal would likely set compensation levels higher than front‑of‑meter projects and could disfavor adding storage. She urged the committee to ensure storage is incentivized and to monetize REC value rather than retiring it without capturing ratepayer benefit.
The committee voted to table LD 1966 to allow further review and stakeholder consultation on the procurement structure, compensation approach and storage treatment.
