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Committee adopts working document for net‑metering changes, sets bill aside for further review
Summary
The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee reviewed a committee substitute for SB 150 that shifts net‑metering credit calculation from retail to average wholesale rate, allows annual credit carryforward, removes a reimbursement fund and prohibits cost‑shifting. Members set the bill aside for further consideration.
The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee took up Senate Bill 150 on May 1 and adopted a committee substitute as the working document before setting the bill aside for further consideration.
Conrad Jackson, staff to Senator Bjorkman, summarized the proposed committee substitute. Key changes include replacing the retail rate credit calculation with an average wholesale power rate for consumer‑generating customers; removing a March 31 expiration and allowing credits to carry forward for 12 months; deleting the proposed net‑metering reimbursement fund; requiring load‑serving entities to establish alternate rate structures that reflect their cost to provide service; prohibiting a load‑serving entity from shifting costs from consumer‑generators to non‑generators; and updating the effective date (the draft notes the act would take effect July 1, 2026).
Senator Dunbar and other members questioned whether the substitute would be retroactive and whether it resolves utility concerns about cost shifting. Committee staff said the intent of the substitute is to eliminate cross‑subsidization by preventing cost shifting and by using an average wholesale rate rather than retail prices for credits. Staff also noted the substitute establishes a regulatory process for the commission to evaluate alternate rate structures.
The committee adopted the committee substitute as the working document without objection, then set SB 150 aside for additional consideration at a future meeting scheduled May 4. No final committee vote on passage was taken; the bill remains pending and subject to further amendment and review.
