I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 954
To amend the Federal Power Act to promote energy independence and self-
sufficiency by providing for the use of net metering by certain small
electric energy generation systems, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 8, 2001
Mr. INSLEE (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. EHLERS, Mrs.
MINK of Hawaii, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. UDALL of Colorado,
Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. LEACH, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HIN-
CHEY, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, and Ms. BALDWIN) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Federal Power Act to promote energy inde-
pendence and self-sufficiency by providing for the use
of net metering by certain small electric energy genera-
tion systems, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Home Energy Genera-
tion Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that it is in the public interest
to:
(1) Enable small businesses, residences, schools,
churches, farms with small electric generation units,
and other retail electric customers who generate
electric energy to return or sell surplus electric en-
ergy on the open market.
(2) Encourage private investment in renewable
and alternate energy resources.
(3) Stimulate the economic growth.
(4) Enhance the continued diversification sec-
tion of energy resources used in the United States.
(5) Remove regulatory barriers for net meter-
ing.
SEC. 3. NET METERING.
Part II of the Federal Power Act is amended by add-
ing the following new section at the end thereof:
‘‘SEC. 215. NET METERING.
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
‘‘(1) The term ‘customer-generator’ means the
owner or operator of an electric generation unit
qualified for net metering under this section.
‘‘(2) The term ‘net metering’ means measuring
the difference between the electricity supplied to a
customer-generator and the electricity generated by
a customer-generator that is delivered to a local dis-
tribution section system at the same point of inter-
connection during an applicable billing period.
‘‘(3) The terms ‘electric generation unit quali-
fied for net metering’ and ‘qualified generation unit’
mean an electric energy generation unit that meets
the requirements of paragraph (5) and each of the
following requirements:
‘‘(A) The unit is a fuel cell or uses as its
energy source either solar, wind, or biomass.
‘‘(B) The unit has a generating capacity of
not more than 100 kilowatts.
‘‘(C) The unit is located on premises that
are owned, operated, leased, or otherwise con-
trolled by the customer-generator.
‘‘(D) The unit operates in parallel with the
retail electric supplier.
‘‘(E) The unit is intended primarily to off-
set part or all of the customer-generator’s re-
quirements for electric energy.
‘‘(4) The term ‘retail electric supplier’ means
any person that sells electric energy to the ultimate
consumer thereof.
‘‘(5) The term ‘local distribution system’ means
any system for the distribution section of electric en-
ergy to the ultimate consumer thereof, whether or
not the owner or operator of such system is also a
retail electric supplier.
‘‘(b) ADOPTION.—Not later than one year after the
enactment of this section, each retail electric supplier shall
comply with each of the following requirements and notify
all of its retail customers of such requirements not less
frequently than quarterly:
‘‘(1) The supplier shall offer to arrange (either
directly or through a local distribution company or
other third party) to make available, on a first-come-
first-served basis, to each of its retail customers that
has installed an energy generation unit that is in-
tended for net metering and that notifies the sup-
plier of its generating capacity an electric energy
meter that is capable of net metering if the cus-
tomer-generator’s existing electrical meter cannot
perform that function.
‘‘(2) Rates and charges and contract terms and
conditions for the sale of electric energy to cus-
tomer-generators shall be the same as the rates and
charges and contract terms and conditions that
would be applicable if the customer-generator did
not own or operate a qualified generation unit and
use a net metering system.
Any retail electric supplier or local distribution company
may, at its own expense, install one or more additional
electric energy meters to monitor the flow of electricity
in either direction or to reflect the time of generation or
both. Whenever a customer-generator with a net metering
system uses any energy generation system entitled to cred-
its under a Federal minimum renewable energy generation
requirement, the total amount of energy generated by that
system shall be treated as generated by the retail electric
supplier for purposes of such requirement.
‘‘(c) NET ENERGY MEASUREMENT AND BILLING.—
Each retail electric supplier subject to subsection (b) shall
calculate the net energy measurement for a customer
using a net metering system in the following manner:
‘‘(1) The retail electric supplier shall measure
the net electricity produced or consumed during the
billing period using the metering referred to in para-
graph (1) or (2) of subsection (b).
‘‘(2) If the electricity supplied by the retail elec-
tric supplier exceeds the electricity generated by the
customer-generator during the billing period, the
customer-generator shall be billed for the net elec-
tricity supplied by the retail electric supplier in ac-
cordance with normal metering practices.