Duke Energy and several rooftop solar installers in North Carolina have reached an agreement on proposed changes to net energy metering policy.
Under terms of the settlement, a "bridge rate" transition plan would be offered to existing and eligible new customers who apply through Dec. 31, 2026, delaying the implementation of time-of-use tariffs proposed by Duke Energy.
Customers who choose the proposed bridge rate would be covered for up to 15 years.
The proposed bridge rate includes the monthly netting at the avoided cost rate and the same monthly minimum bill and non-bypassable charge within the latest net metering proposal. Still, it does not feature a grid access fee or mandatory time-of-use rates.
The settlement was submitted to the North Carolina Utilities Commission for approval.
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Executives from North Carolina residential solar installers Sundance Power Systems, Southern Energy Management, and Yes Solar Solutions had been in negotiations with Duke Energy for several weeks. The companies were among 17 that recently voiced their concerns over the proposed net metering changes in a letter to Gov. Roy Cooper.
“In the end, we did the best we could to secure the best deal possible for our industry, one that would give us a runway that was sellable to our customers, and buy some time for some systemic changes to occur that could create a better system moving forward,” said Dave Hollister, owner of Sundance Power Systems.
In addition to upset rooftop solar installers, the North Carolina attorney general had also gotten involved in the proceedings in recent months.
The office of North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, wrote in a filing with the North Carolina Utilities Commission that Duke's process to update net metering only examined the costs of customer-sited generation, not the benefits.
The AG's office wrote in its March 15 filing that the potential benefits range from reducing carbon emissions by offsetting fossil fuel generation to improving grid resilience "and they must be investigated and quantified." The filing went on to urge "it would be prudent for the Commission to delay issuing an order in this docket until a later date."
The recent opposition came as a bit of a surprise, given that Duke Energy and solar advocacy groups cheered a settlement on net metering that was reached in November. The settlement was similar to an agreement crafted a year earlier in South Carolina that Vote Solar said was rooted in "trust" and "transparency."
Subscribe today to the all-new Factor This! podcast from Renewable Energy World. This podcast designed specifically for the solar industry launches May 9th with a deep-dive breakdown of the Auxin Solar tariff petition, including the impact to PPA markets and corporate net-zero targets. The success was notable because policy updates to net metering -- the mechanism that credits rooftop solar customers for surplus electricity that they send to the grid -- have proven to be contentious in other states.
In California, regulators halted a net metering proposal that advocates have said would decimate the rooftop solar industry.
At the time, the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association, Southern Environmental Law Center, Vote Solar, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Sunrun, and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) all supported the settlement.
Duke was required to revise its net metering policy as part of a bipartisan clean energy bill, House Bill 951, that was passed by state lawmakers last fall. The bill directed regulators to establish a Carbon Plan to enable the state to cut carbon emissions by 70% by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
The policy included a minimum monthly bill of $22 for Duke Energy Carolinas customers and $28 for Duke Energy Progress customers. NEM credits would be priced based on time of use and peak hours, instead of retail or wholesale prices. A grid access fee would be charged to customers with systems of 15 kW-dc or larger. Also included was a non-bypassable charge for "non-energy expenses" to cover storm damage and related costs to maintaining the grid.
