By Oliwia Krupinska and Coral Lin 

Despite its benefits, net metering has come under attack in states across the region as legislators scramble to find solutions to high energy prices. In this article we explore how net metering works, why it is under scrutiny, the threats it faces across the region, and the action ACT’s Policy Team is taking to protect and strengthen this invaluable resource.

Net Metering, sometimes also called Net Energy Billing (NEB) and Net Energy Metering (NEM), is a state-level program that allows residential and commercial customers who generate their own electricity from solar power to sell the electricity they aren’t using back into the grid. It is a great incentive for anyone who wants to install a solar panel system as it maximizes the value of the energy produced, and supports the grid as it adds more renewable energy to the mix.

Unfortunately, as New England grapples with widespread dissatisfaction with high energy bills that affected ratepayers across the region this winter, Net Metering has been one of the programs unfairly blamed for high energy prices.

The Current Paradigm

The need to address the size of our electric bills is not unfounded – the affordability of electricity in New England is at the bottom of the charts when compared to the rest of the country. When we look at what’s driving these costs, we see over and over again that a core culprit of our skyrocketing energy bills is the fossil fuels we use to power our economy, not clean energy initiatives.

By allowing the majority of our energy mix to be supplied by an imported resource with volatile pricing vulnerable to geopolitics, New England continues to see fossil fuels  dictate the costs of our energy. 

Investment in clean energy is not just a whim, it is a smart choice that allows us to produce energy locally, minimizing delivery costs, to use free energy resources like sun and wind rather than spending money on fuels, and to increase certainty about how much that energy will cost. 

Net metering programs support home and business owners in the choice to install solar panels on their property by ensuring that the system produces value not only by covering the usage of energy within the home but also by bringing in income to compensate the solar system owner for their contribution to the grid.

Under Attack

In recent months, a wave of misinformed facts has led many to worry that ratepayers are unfairly subsidizing net metering customers, and that renewable energy and efficiency programs are to blame for high energy prices, which could not be further from the truth. 

Across all the New England states, renewable energy program charges comprise only a small sliver of the electric bill, and changes in those charges are negligible compared to other charges on the electric bill. For example, the recently proposed changes in clean energy program charges in Rhode island are anticipated to increase by only $0.56 per month on an average bill of $141. Furthermore, net metering actively saves consumer dollars: in Maine, net metering has saved over $160 million, a $1.23 return on every dollar invested. 

Net metering compensation structures do not usually pay additional incentives to the solar panel owners, they simply compensate them for the energy they add to the grid just like utilities compensate a large utility-scale power plant for the power it provides. 

Our Support

ACT is actively working on strengthening existing net metering programs and defending the attacks it faces in the region. So far this year:

• In Rhode Island, ACT commented in support of H.6085, which would exclude canopies and preferred sites from net metering caps, and is tracking H.5580 and S.843 which would expand net metering eligibility.
• In New Hampshire, we are tracking SB 106, which would extend the state’s NEM 2.0 tariff for 20-years and enable commercial and industrial NEM projects up to 5 MW. This bill will be crucial to stabilizing the program after the NH Public Utilities Commission recently ruled to not formally extend the program. 

• In Maine, LDs 32, 257, 450, and 515 threaten the future of net energy billing, and we are working closely with our partners at Maine Renewable Energy Association to support the future of the program. These bills would effectively nullify the investments made by homeowners, residents, and businesses—totaling hundreds of millions of dollars— and create financial and operational uncertainty. LD 32 and LD 450 have already failed to pass, but we are monitoring the evolving bills and conversations about what changes to the program may be appropriate.

Net metering is a powerful tool to ensure that excess power generated is properly compensated for the contributions it makes to the grid. Recognizing its importance to reaching decarbonization goals and improving economic outcomes of ratepayers and local economies, ACT’s Policy team will continue to monitor and advocate for the well-being of these programs.