I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2764 

To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to increase participation in community solar and the receipt of associated benefits, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 22, 2021 

Ms. CASTOR of Florida (for herself, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. TONKO, Ms. ESHOO, 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. WELCH, and Ms. LEGER

FERNANDEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee 

on Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a program 

to increase participation in community solar and the 

receipt of associated benefits, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Community Solar Con5 sumer Choice Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMMUNITY SOLAR CONSUMER CHOICE PROGRAM; 

2 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATION IN 

3 COMMUNITY SOLAR. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) COMMUNITY SOLAR.—The term ‘‘commu6 nity solar’’ means a solar power plant, the benefits 

7 of the electricity produced by which are shared by 

8 two or more electricity customers. 

9 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

10 the Secretary of Energy. 

11 (3) SUBSCRIBER.—The term ‘‘subscriber’’ 

12 means an electricity customer who receives a benefit 

13 associated with the proportional output of the com14 munity solar facility of the customer. 

15 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY SOLAR CON16 SUMER CHOICE PROGRAM.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

19 shall establish a program to expand community solar 

20 options to— 

21 (A) individuals, particularly individuals 

22 that do not have regular access to onsite solar, 

23 including low- and moderate-income individuals; 

24 (B) businesses; 

25 (C) nonprofit organizations; and 


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1 (D) States and local and Tribal govern2 ments. 

3 (2) ALIGNMENT WITH EXISTING FEDERAL PRO4 GRAMS.—The Secretary shall align the program 

5 under paragraph (1) with existing Federal programs 

6 that serve low-income communities. 

7 (3) ASSISTANCE TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERN8 MENTS.—In carrying out the program under para9 graph (1), the Secretary shall— 

10 (A) provide technical assistance to States 

11 and local and Tribal governments for projects 

12 to increase community solar; 

13 (B) assist States and local and Tribal gov14 ernments in the development of new and inno15 vative financial and business models that lever16 age competition in the marketplace in order to 

17 serve community solar subscribers; and 

18 (C) use National Laboratories (as defined 

19 in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 

20 (42 U.S.C. 15801)) to collect and disseminate 

21 data to assist private entities in the financing 

22 of, subscription to, and operation of community 

23 solar projects. 

24 (c) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATION IN COM25 MUNITY SOLAR.—The Secretary will expand the existing 


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1 grant, loan, and financing programs to include community 

2 solar projects (as defined in paragraph (20) of section 

3 111(d) of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 

4 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2621(d)), as added pursuant to section 

5 3 of this Act). 

6 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY SOLAR PRO7 GRAMS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 111(d) of the Public Util9 ity Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2621(d)) 

10 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(20) COMMUNITY SOLAR PROGRAMS.—Each 

12 electric utility shall offer a community solar program 

13 that provides all ratepayers, including low-income 

14 ratepayers, equitable and demonstrable access to 

15 such community solar program. For the purposes of 

16 this paragraph, the term ‘community solar program’ 

17 means a service provided to any electric consumer 

18 that the electric utility serves through which the 

19 value of electricity generated by a community solar 

20 facility may be used to offset charges billed to the 

21 electric consumer by the electric utility. A ‘commu22 nity solar facility’ is— 

23 ‘‘(A) a solar photovoltaic system that allo24 cates electricity to multiple electric consumers 

25 of an electric utility; 


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1 ‘‘(B) connected to a local distribution of 

2 the electric utility; 

3 ‘‘(C) located either on or off the property 

4 of the electric consumers; and 

5 ‘‘(D) may be owned by an electric utility, 

6 an electric consumer, or a third party.’’. 

7 (b) COMPLIANCE.— 

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

9 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 

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

11 the following: 

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

13 enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 

14 authority (with respect to each electric utility for 

15 which the State has ratemaking authority) and each 

16 nonregulated utility shall commence consideration 

17 under section 111, or set a hearing date for consid18 eration, with respect to the standard established by 

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

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

21 enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 

22 authority (with respect to each electric utility for 

23 which the State has ratemaking authority), and each 

24 nonregulated electric utility shall complete the con25 sideration and make the determination under section 


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1 111 with respect to the standard established by 

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

3 (2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.— 

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

5 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

6 (16 U.S.C. 2622(c)) is amended— 

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

8 and all that follows through ‘‘paragraphs 

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

10 In the case of the standard established by 

11 paragraph (15) of section 111(d), the ref12 erence contained in this subsection to the 

13 date of enactment of this Act shall be 

14 deemed to be a reference to the date of en15 actment of that paragraph (15). In the 

16 case of the standards established by para17 graphs (16)’’; and 

18 (ii) by adding at the end the fol19 lowing: ‘‘In the case of the standard estab20 lished by paragraph (20) of section 111(d), 

21 the reference contained in this subsection 

22 to the date of enactment of this Act shall 

23 be deemed to be a reference to the date of 

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

25 (B) TECHNICAL CORRECTION.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—Section 1254(b) of 

2 the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public 

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

4 (I) by striking paragraph (2); 

5 and 

6 (II) by redesignating paragraph 

7 (3) as paragraph (2). 

8 (ii) TREATMENT.—The amendment 

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

10 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public 

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

12 on the day before the date of enactment of 

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

14 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 

15 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2622(d)) shall be in ef16 fect as if those amendments had not been 

17 enacted. 

18 (3) PRIOR STATE ACTIONS.— 

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

20 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

21 (16 U.S.C. 2622) is amended by adding at the 

22 end the following: 

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

24 (c) shall not apply to the standard established by para25 graph (20) of section 111(d) in the case of any electric 


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

2 subsection— 

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

4 utility the standard (or a comparable standard); 

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

6 State or the relevant nonregulated electric utility has 

7 conducted a proceeding to consider implementation 

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

9 electric utility; or 

10 ‘‘(3) the State legislature has voted on the im11 plementation of the standard (or a comparable 

12 standard) for the electric utility.’’. 

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

14 the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 

15 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2634) is amended by adding 

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

17 standard established by paragraph (20) of sec18 tion 111(d), the reference contained in this sub19 section to the date of enactment of this Act 

20 shall be deemed to be a reference to the date 

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


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1 SEC. 4. FEDERAL CONTRACTS FOR PUBLIC UTILITY SERV2 ICES. 

3 Section 501(b)(1) of title 40, United States Code, is 

4 amended by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC UTILITY CONTRACTS.—A 

7 contract under this paragraph for public utility 

8 services may be for a period of not more than 

9 30 years.’’. 

Æ 


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