The Vermont Public Utility Commission has scheduled a second virtual workshop on net metering for Monday, Nov. 16, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and has requested that the state's electric utilities present how much solar their grids can absorb and how fast it is being built. The commission's Oct. 16 order in Case No. 26-1786-RULE asks them to file any slides or other materials in its ePUC system by Friday, Nov. 13.
The workshop is part of a rulemaking to update Rule 5.100, which governs the construction and operation of net-metering systems. The commission asks the utilities to coordinate on a single presentation or a few joint ones, and asks the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority to help coordinate its member utilities.
What the utilities are asked to cover
The order lists current and possible future constraints on the distribution system, the tools utilities use or plan to use to expand capacity, such as flexible load management, siting generation in better locations and battery storage, and the pace of net-metering growth compared with prior years. It also asks for the share of load met by net-metering systems and the share of residential and of commercial and industrial customers taking part.
On cost, the commission wants proposed contract prices or current estimates, in dollars per kilowatt-hour, for new distributed solar facilities of about 5 megawatts, and an explanation of whether federal tax and renewable-energy policy changes and higher labor and material costs have affected procurement. Utilities other than the 100% renewable ones are asked how they plan to meet the 20% Tier II requirement of the Vermont Renewable Energy Standard by 2032 and how many additional megawatts each will need.
The question behind the rulemaking
The commission's Sept. 9 order opening the case says a residential-scale system that applies for a certificate of public good in 2026 is compensated for generation above its monthly usage at about $0.1571 per kilowatt-hour, while a utility-scale distributed solar facility would likely receive about $0.105, a gap of about 5 cents. The proceeding will examine "whether this cost differential is justified and what value should be assigned to generation from net-metering systems," the order says. It does not propose specific rates.
The order says net metering has been in place for almost three decades and has produced more than 390 megawatts of capacity, most of the more than 600 megawatts of distributed solar in Vermont. It puts the state's peak load at about 1,000 megawatts and says the volume of behind-the-meter solar has shifted that peak to after sundown, which reduces the value of adding more. It puts distributed solar at 71.7% of peak load in Vermont, against 13.2% in New Hampshire and 22.1% in Connecticut.
Any new framework, the order says, should include a transition for existing systems that reflects owners' "reasonable investment-backed expectations" based on the rules in place when they filed a complete application.
Where the case stands
The commission opened the case Sept. 8 and entered its order Sept. 9. The first workshop was held Oct. 2, when the Vermont Electric Power Company filed a presentation on its 2024 Long-Range Transmission Plan and distributed generation hosting analysis; the case log shows a link to the recording filed Oct. 5. The commission has said it will focus first on compensation and take up other parts of the rule later. The case schedule in ePUC lists no deadline for written comments, though the docket has accepted public comments since September. Its only due date is the Nov. 13 filing of utility materials.
