20 Va. Admin. Code § 5-340-65

Current through Register Vol. 41, No. 10, December 30, 2024

Section 20VAC5-340-65 - Phase II Utility: billing and payment

A. Subscriber organizations shall provide subscriber information to the utility as follows:

1. Subscriber organizations must provide, on a monthly basis and in a standard electronic format and pursuant to this chapter, a subscriber list indicating the kilowatt-hours of generation attributable to each of the subscribers participating in a shared solar facility in accordance with the subscriber's portion of the output of the shared solar facility.

2. Subscriber lists may be updated monthly to reflect canceling subscribers and to add new subscribers.

3. Monthly subscriber information must be provided by the fifth business day of the month.

4. Data transfer protocols for exchange of data between the subscriber organization and the utility shall be established to include:

a. Data components;

b. Data format;

c. Timing of monthly data exchanges;

d. Encryption level; and

e. Channel of data submission.

B. A subscriber organization may offer separate billing of its subscription fees or choose to use the utility's consolidated billing service.

C. Consolidated billing will reflect net crediting, as set forth in subsection I of this section, and the utility will be the billing party to the customer.

1. Where a subscriber organization chooses to use consolidated billing, the subscriber organization's marketing materials and contracts must identify clearly that the utility may charge a net crediting fee not to exceed 1.0% of the bill credit value.

2. Where a subscriber organization chooses to use net crediting, any shared solar subscription fees charged via the net crediting model shall be set to ensure that subscribers do not pay more in subscription fees than they receive in bill credits.

3. All billing of the customer shall occur and comply with the utility's normal billing and credit cycles.

D. Credits to subscriber bills shall occur within two billing cycles following the cycle during which the energy was generated by the shared solar facility.

E. The utility shall, on a monthly basis and in a standardized electronic format, provide the subscriber organization a report indicating the total value of bill credits generated by the shared solar facility in the prior month, as well as the amount of the bill credit applied to each subscriber.

F. Failure of a subscriber to pay any regulated charges shall subject the subscriber to the same credit consequences set forth in the utility's commission-approved terms and conditions of service, including the potential requirement to post a security or disconnection of service. The utility shall provide a notice of intent to terminate service to the subscriber directly of any pending disconnection action for nonpayment consistent with the utility's practice as found in its approved tariff and 20VAC5-330, and this notice of intent to terminate service will occur separately from the customer bill. The bill shall clearly identify the amount that must be paid and the date by which such amount must be received and provide instructions for direct payment to the utility to avoid disconnection. A subscriber may not be disconnected for nonpayment of unregulated service charges. Low-income customers shall not be subject to early termination fees or credit reporting by the utility or a subscriber organization.

G. Bill credits.

1. Bill credits shall be for a particular calendar month, regardless of the billing period or billing cycle of the individual customer's account.

2. Bill credits shall be calculated by multiplying the subscriber's portion of the kilowatt-hour electricity production from the shared solar facility by the applicable bill credit rate for the subscriber. Any portion of a bill credit that exceeds the subscriber's monthly bill, minus the minimum bill, shall be carried over and applied to subsequent bills until the earlier of when the credit is satisfied or up to 12 months.

3. In the event that all of the electricity generated by a shared solar facility is not allocated to subscribers in a given month, a subscriber organization may accumulate bill credits. The subscriber organization shall provide the utility allocation instructions for distributing excess bill credits to subscribers on an annual basis.

4. The commission shall establish the yearly applicable bill credit rate for the subscriber's residential, commercial, or industrial rate class.

5. The utility shall provide bill credits to a shared solar facility's subscribers for not less than 25 years from the date the shared solar facility becomes commercially operational.

6. The bill credits associated with the shared solar program shall be applied through the utility's fuel factor.

H. Minimum bill.

1. In a proceeding, as prescribed in 20VAC5-340-80, the commission will determine the specific costs and formula to determine the minimum bill for program participants.

2. Low-income customers shall be exempt from the minimum bill. Costs associated with low-income customer participation shall be recovered by the utility in a manner to be determined by the commission in the proceeding set forth in 20VAC5-340-80.

I. Net crediting.

1. Net crediting functionality shall be part of any new customer information platform approved by the commission.

2. Under net crediting, the utility shall include the shared solar subscription fee on the customer's utility bill and provide the customer with a net credit equivalent to the total bill credit value for that generation period minus the shared solar subscription fee as set by the subscriber organization.

3. The net crediting fee shall not exceed 1.0% of the bill credit value.

4. Net crediting shall be optional for subscriber organizations, and any shared solar subscription fees charged via the net crediting model shall be set to ensure that subscribers do not pay more in subscription fees than they receive in bill credits.

J. Environmental attributes associated with a shared solar facility, including renewable energy certificates or RECs.

1. A subscriber organization that registers a shared solar facility in the program within the first 200 megawatts alternating current of awarded capacity shall own all environmental attributes. At such subscriber organization's discretion, such environmental attributes may be distributed to subscribers, sold to load-serving entities with compliance obligations or other buyers, accumulated, or retired.

2. For a shared solar facility registered in the program after the first 200 megawatts alternating current of awarded capacity, the registering subscriber organization shall transfer renewable energy certificates to a Phase II Utility to be retired for compliance with such Phase II Utility's renewable portfolio standard obligations pursuant to § 56-858.5 C of the Code of Virginia. Any contract between a subscriber organization and a participating customer must make clear that all RECs associated with a shared solar facility belong to the Phase II Utility only for compliance with such Phase II Utility's renewable portfolio standard obligations pursuant to § 56-585.5 C of the Code of Virginia.

3. As directed by § 56-594.3 B 7 of the Code of Virginia mandatory distribution or transfer to the utility of the previous calendar year's RECs, ending December 31, shall take place prior to the annual report filing date for FERC Form 1 as defined in 18 CFR 141.1.

20 Va. Admin. Code § 5-340-65

Derived from Virginia Register Volume 41, Issue 09, eff. 1/1/2025.

Statutory Authority: §§ 12.1-13 and 56-594.3 of the Code of Virginia.