Summary
This bill would make wind and fuel cells eligible technologies for net-metering and would expand the size of all eligible net metered systems from their current limits to no more than two thousand kilowatts. The bill would allow any customer of an electric corporation to be eligible for net metering — not just certain customers specified in current law. The bill also eliminates the system-wide cap on net-metered load in New York State.

Explanation
Net metering measures the difference between electricity bought from an electric corporation and electricity produced by the customer/generator. Under this bill, customers/generators would receive the full retail value for the electricity they produce.

New York has one of the most restrictive policies in the Northeast when it comes to allowing customer/generators to sell their excess electricity back to the grid. While New Yorkers with small-scale residential systems can already net meter, commercial business cannot, even though the commercial and industrial sectors are responsible for two-thirds of the state’s electricity usage.

Making additional types of clean, renewable technologies eligible for net-metering would help protect New Yorkers from the harmful effects of air pollution created by fossil fuel-fired power plants. These harmful effects include asthma attacks and premature deaths in seniors, increased levels of mercury contamination, destruction of our forest ecosystems by acid rain, as well as wide-ranging negative effects associated with global climate change.

Greater reliance on clean, distributed generation would make additional power available during times of peak demand, reduce stress on transmission lines and potentially avoid further large-scale power outages. Promoting clean, renewable sources of electric power through expanded net metering laws is a sound way to help protect the environment of New York State.

Environmental Advocates of New York strongly supports this bill.