Section 393.1670 - Solar rebates, amount - limitations - recovery of costs - rulemaking authority - definitions - expiration date1. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of subsection 2 of section 393.1030 and section 393.1045 to the contrary, and subject to the limitations provided for in this section, an electrical corporation shall, commencing* January 1, 2019, make solar rebates available in the amounts specified in this section. For systems becoming operational between January 1, 2019, and June 30, 2019, the solar rebate shall be fifty cents per watt, and for systems that become operational after June 30, 2019, through December 31, 2023, the solar rebate shall be twenty-five cents per watt. The rebates provided for by this section shall apply to new or expanded solar electric systems up to a maximum of twenty-five kilowatts per system for residential customers and up to one hundred fifty kilowatts per system for nonresidential customers. Customers shall be eligible for rebates on new or expanded systems for the increment of new or extended capacity and not for capacity on which rebates offered under any other provision of law have previously been paid, up to the system kilowatt limits set forth in this section. However, an electrical corporation's obligation to make solar rebate payments under this section shall not exceed the following limitations: (1) Electrical corporations with one million or more Missouri retail customers as of August 28, 2018, shall not be obligated to pay solar rebates in any calendar year from 2019 through 2023 in an amount exceeding five million six hundred thousand dollars or in an aggregate amount during those calendar years exceeding twenty-eight million dollars;(2) Electrical corporations with less than one million but more than two hundred thousand Missouri retail customers as of August 28, 2018, shall not be obligated to pay solar rebates in any calendar year from 2019 through 2023 in an amount exceeding one million six hundred thousand dollars or in an aggregate amount during those calendar years exceeding eight million dollars; and(3) Electrical corporations with two hundred thousand or less Missouri retail customers as of August 28, 2018, shall not be obligated to pay solar rebates in any calendar year from 2019 through 2023 in an amount exceeding one million four hundred thousand dollars or in an aggregate amount during those calendar years exceeding seven million dollars.2. At its election, the electrical corporation shall be permitted to recover the cost of all solar rebate payments it has made through either base rates or through a rate adjustment mechanism under section 393.1030, and shall, also at its election, be permitted to defer and amortize the recovery of such costs, including interest at the electric corporation's short-term borrowing rate, through either base rates or a surcharge over a period of the electrical corporation's choice not to exceed five years; provided that, if recovery of such costs in such manner and over such a time period would cause the electrical corporation to exceed the one percent maximum average retail rate increase limitation required by subdivision (1) of subsection 2 of section 393.1030, that part of recovery of such costs that would exceed such one percent limitation shall be deferred by the electrical corporation to a regulatory asset, to which carrying costs at the electrical corporation's weighted average cost of capital shall be added and recovered through base rates or through a rate adjustment mechanism under section 393.1030, as soon as practicable.3. Solar rebates in the amounts specified for each calendar year and in the aggregate for calendar years 2019 through 2023 referred to in this section shall become available effective January 1, 2019. The solar rebate provision of subsection 3 of section 393.1030, including any commission orders relating to such provisions applicable to an electrical corporation, are unaffected by this section.4. Reductions in electrical corporation loads as a result of the installation of solar systems not owned by the electrical corporation that provide electricity to the electrical corporation's customers constitute conservation.5. The commission shall have the authority to promulgate rules for the implementation of this section, but only to the extent that such rules are consistent with, and do not delay the implementation of, the provisions of this section. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 536.028. This section and chapter 536 are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2018, shall be invalid and void.6. For purposes of this section, "electrical corporation" and "commission" shall mean the same as defined in section 386.020, but an electrical corporation shall not include an electrical corporation as described in subsection 2 of section 393.110.7. This section shall expire on December 31, 2023; provided however, that after such expiration, the electrical corporation shall be entitled to recover any remaining regulatory asset balance as provided in subsection 2 of this section.Added by 2018 Mo. Laws, SB 564,s A, eff. 8/28/2018.