North Carolina utility net metering and net billing terms

House Bill 589 reset the basis for rates

House Bill 589 of 2017, Session Law 2017-192, added competitive bidding, a statewide rooftop leasing program, a community solar program and the Green Source Rider, per the DSIRE summary for North Carolina. For rooftop owners, its core provision is Section 62-126.4, Commission to establish net metering rates.

The bill text requires each electric public utility to file revised net metering rates for owners and for customer generator lessees. Rates must be nondiscriminatory, established only after an investigation of the costs and benefits of customer-sited generation, and must ensure the net metering customer pays its full fixed cost of service, with fixed monthly charges allowed. Until approval, the rate at interconnection applied, and customers interconnected before approval could elect to keep that rate until January 1, 2027.

Duke Energy: bridge rider first, successor tariff after

Duke's stakeholder agreement, per its own announcement, put new tariffs in effect for applications on or after January 1, 2023. A summary of the NCUC-approved models published April 4, 2023 lists NMB-1, Net Metering Bridge, and RSC-2, Residential Solar Choice.

Per that rider summary, the Bridge is first come, first served with an annual cap, closes to new participants on January 1, 2027, and a participant may stay up to 15 years from the application date. Its minimum bill applies when basic, energy and rider charges total less than $22, surplus is credited each period at $0.034 per kilowatt-hour after that calculation, and qualifying low-income customers with systems of 8 kW DC or less are exempt from the minimum bill.

Minimum bill and non-bypassable charges in the successor filing

As reported from the successor filing, the monthly minimum bill is $22 for Duke Energy Carolinas and $28 for Duke Energy Progress. Monthly net excess is credited at 2.68 cents per kilowatt-hour in Carolinas and 2.64 cents in Progress, with a monthly non-bypassable charge of 36 cents per nameplate kilowatt in Carolinas and 44 cents in Progress. Systems over 15 kW pay a grid access fee of $2.05 per kilowatt over 15 kW in Carolinas and $1.50 in Progress, and customers are served on time-of-use schedules with critical peak pricing.

Leasing and community solar under HB 589

The bill also created solar leasing, without authorizing per-kilowatt-hour power purchase sales. An offering utility serves at least 150,000 North Carolina customers as of January 1, 2017. A leased facility is capped at 20 kW, or 100 percent of estimated demand, for residential customers, and the lesser of 1,000 kW or 100 percent of contract demand for nonresidential customers. Total leased capacity may not exceed 1 percent of the previous five-year average retail contribution to coincident peak demand, lessors must hold a Commission certificate, and lease costs may not be recovered from nonparticipants.

Community solar is capped in the bill text. Each offering utility must offer its program first come, first served until nameplate capacity equals 20 MW, with a facility no larger than 5 MW, at least five subscribers, and no subscriber over a 40 percent interest. Subscriptions represent at least 200 watts, supply no more than 100 percent of a subscriber's maximum annual peak demand, and are credited at the avoided cost rate, with subscribers in the facility's county or a contiguous county, subject to an exemption up to 75 miles.