The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of Nevada approved a draft order that will implement new Net Energy Metering (NEM) rules and regulations for NV Energy. Under the new rules, rooftop solar customers who export energy back to the grid will be compensated at 95 percent of the retail electricity rate. The new order calls for export rate compensation levels to gradually decline as tranches of capacity are reached. The order requires that NV Energy charge solar and non-solar customers the same fees.
Key Provisions
- New solar NEM customers to be compensated for excess energy at 95 percent of the retail rate
- For every 80 megawatts of solar capacity deployed, the credit is set to decline by 7 percent
- The lowest it can reach is 75 percent of the retail rate
- Solar and non-solar customers will be charged the same fees. Net metering customers no longer treated as a separate class.
- PUC order also adds measures to encourage the adoption of energy storage
What’s the net effect?
The draft order comes two years after net metering credits were phased out by utility regulators and residential solar customers were hit with higher fixed fees. The 2015 order slowed the growth of Nevada’s rooftop solar market and resulted in hundreds of solar workers losing their jobs. The PUC says this is the final step in revitalizing the state’s net metering program. The Nevada PUC has developed a net-metering website that customers can use to installed capacity in order to provide real-time information about solar applications and installations. The order went into effect on December 1, 2017.
Updates made in Energy Toolbase
- Users can model NEM 2.0 projects based on any export rate assumption in Energy Toolbase.
