II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1723 

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to promote 

safe and reliable interconnection and net billing for community solar facilities. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 9, 2015 

Mr. HEINRICH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

to promote safe and reliable interconnection and net 

billing for community solar facilities. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Renewable 

5 Energy with Shared Solar Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROVISION OF INTERCONNECTION SERVICE AND 

2 NET BILLING SERVICE FOR COMMUNITY 

3 SOLAR FACILITIES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 111(d) of the Public Util5 ity Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2621(d)) 

6 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(20) COMMUNITY SOLAR FACILITIES.— 

8 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(i) COMMUNITY SOLAR FACILITY.— 

10 The term ‘community solar facility’ means 

11 a solar photovoltaic system that— 

12 ‘‘(I) allocates electricity to mul13 tiple individual electric consumers of 

14 an electric utility; 

15 ‘‘(II) has a nameplate rating of 2 

16 megawatts or less; and 

17 ‘‘(III) is— 

18 ‘‘(aa) owned by the electric 

19 utility, jointly owned, or third20 party-owned; 

21 ‘‘(bb) connected to a local 

22 distribution facility of the electric 

23 utility; and 

24 ‘‘(cc) located on or off the 

25 property of a consumer of the 

26 electricity. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) INTERCONNECTION SERVICE.— 

2 The term ‘interconnection service’ means a 

3 service provided by an electric utility to an 

4 electric consumer, in accordance with the 

5 standards described in paragraph (15), 

6 through which a community solar facility is 

7 connected to an applicable local distribu8 tion facility. 

9 ‘‘(iii) NET BILLING SERVICE.—The 

10 term ‘net billing service’ means a service 

11 provided by an electric utility to an electric 

12 consumer through which electric energy 

13 generated for that electric consumer from 

14 a community solar facility may be used to 

15 offset electric energy provided by the elec16 tric utility to the electric consumer during 

17 the applicable billing period. 

18 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—On receipt of a re19 quest of an electric consumer served by the 

20 electric utility, each electric utility shall make 

21 available to the electric consumer interconnec22 tion service and net billing service for a commu23 nity solar facility.’’. 

24 (b) COMPLIANCE.— 


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1 (1) TIME LIMITATIONS.—Section 112(b) of the 

2 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 

3 U.S.C. 2622(b)) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘(7)(A) Not later than 1 year after the date of 

6 enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 

7 authority (with respect to each electric utility for 

8 which the State has ratemaking authority) and each 

9 nonregulated utility shall commence consideration 

10 under section 111, or set a hearing date for consid11 eration, with respect to the standard established by 

12 paragraph (20) of section 111(d). 

13 ‘‘(B) Not later than 2 years after the date of 

14 enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 

15 authority (with respect to each electric utility for 

16 which the State has ratemaking authority), and each 

17 nonregulated electric utility shall complete the con18 sideration and make the determination under section 

19 111 with respect to the standard established by 

20 paragraph (20) of section 111(d).’’. 

21 (2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 112(c) of the 

23 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

24 (16 U.S.C. 2622(c)) is amended— 


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1 (i) by striking ‘‘such paragraph (14)’’ 

2 and all that follows through ‘‘paragraphs 

3 (16)’’ and inserting ‘‘such paragraph (14). 

4 In the case of the standard established by 

5 paragraph (15) of section 111(d), the ref6 erence contained in this subsection to the 

7 date of enactment of this Act shall be 

8 deemed to be a reference to the date of en9 actment of that paragraph (15). In the 

10 case of the standards established by para11 graphs (16)’’; and 

12 (ii) by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: ‘‘In the case of the standard estab14 lished by paragraph (20) of section 111(d), 

15 the reference contained in this subsection 

16 to the date of enactment of this Act shall 

17 be deemed to be a reference to the date of 

18 enactment of that paragraph (20).’’. 

19 (B) TECHNICAL CORRECTION.— 

20 (i) IN GENERAL.—Section 1254(b) of 

21 the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public 

22 Law 109–58; 119 Stat. 971) is amended 

23 by striking paragraph (2). 

24 (ii) TREATMENT.—The amendment 

25 made by paragraph (2) of section 1254(b) 


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1 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public 

2 Law 109–58; 119 Stat. 971) (as in effect 

3 on the day before the date of enactment of 

4 this Act) is void, and section 112(d) of the 

5 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 

6 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2622(d)) shall be in ef7 fect as if those amendments had not been 

8 enacted. 

9 (3) PRIOR STATE ACTIONS.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 112 of the 

11 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

12 (16 U.S.C. 2622) is amended by adding at the 

13 end the following: 

14 ‘‘(g) PRIOR STATE ACTIONS.—Subsections (b) and 

15 (c) shall not apply to the standard established by para16 graph (20) of section 111(d) in the case of any electric 

17 utility in a State if, before the date of enactment of this 

18 subsection— 

19 ‘‘(1) the State has implemented for the electric 

20 utility the standard (or a comparable standard); 

21 ‘‘(2) the State regulatory authority for the 

22 State or the relevant nonregulated electric utility has 

23 conducted a proceeding to consider implementation 

24 of the standard (or a comparable standard) for the 

25 electric utility; or 


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1 ‘‘(3) the State legislature has voted on the im2 plementation of the standard (or a comparable 

3 standard) for the electric utility.’’. 

4 (B) CROSS-REFERENCE.—Section 124 of 

5 the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act of 

6 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2634) is amended by adding 

7 at the end the following: ‘‘In the case of the 

8 standard established by paragraph (20) of sec9 tion 111(d), the reference contained in this sub10 section to the date of enactment of this Act 

11 shall be deemed to be a reference to the date 

12 of enactment of that paragraph (20).’’. 

Æ 


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