DPUC issues draft decision on meter aggregation
On February 8, 2010 the Connecticut Department of Public Utility issued a draft decision regarding meter aggregation for the purposes of net metering. The town of Weston had asked for a ruling to determine if it would be permissible to aggregate meters for the town’s middle school and high school in order to net against…
On February 8, 2010 the Connecticut Department of Public Utility issued a draft decision regarding meter aggregation for the purposes of net metering. The town of Weston had asked for a ruling to determine if it would be permissible to aggregate meters for the town’s middle school and high school in order to net against generation from a fuel cell power plant to be installed at the middle school. The middle school and high school are located near each other on a single parcel of land; however, they are separately metered. The fuel cell would be located adjacent to the middle school, generating electricity that is intended to be consumed at both schools.
The town would qualify as a customer under the terms of the net metering statutes but the main issue in question is whether the town would be prohibited from aggregating the electrical consumption at two separately metered buildings. The draft decision ventured that, “the express language of the statute does not place any limitations or restrictions on the location or arrangement of the electricity that is delivered to the customer-generator.” In other words, after a careful review of the statutes, DPUC staff determined that the legislature could have placed limitations that would require generation and consumption to take place at the same meter, if that were the legislature’s intent.
The draft decision continued on to say that the town may use the total aggregated amount of electricity received at the middle school or any other properties or facilities owned by the town, regardless of their physical proximity to one another, so long as the properties or facilities are within the same utility service territory. The decision concluded that, “Such an application of the statute would further advance the apparent intent of the legislature to promote the development and use of renewable sources in the state in that customers would be allowed and encouraged to develop and install Class I renewable sources at the most favorable and compatible locations, thus promoting the efficient use of Connecticut’s land, energy and other natural resources.”
The DPUC expects to deliver a final decision on Wednesday, February 24, 2010.
Source: DPUC draft decision on meter aggregation
