WASHINGTON, D.C., July 16, 2020 — Today, national business group Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) applauded the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) decision to unanimously dismiss a challenge to states' net metering policies on procedural grounds. In April, the New England Ratepayers Association (NERA) filed a petition* asked FERC to declare "exclusive" jurisdiction over behind-the-meter energy generation, essentially undoing state net-metering rules that compensate customers with rooftop solar or other forms of behind-the-meter resource for the excess energy they periodically supply to the grid.
Following statement is from Jeff Dennis, General Counsel and Managing Director at AEE:
"We are pleased that the Commission has unanimously dismissed NERA's unsupported request to dramatically expand federal regulation into state net metering policies. The Commission appropriately declined to upend decades of its own precedent, and the state energy policies in place in over 40 states and utilized by over 2 million retail electricity customers that rely on that precedent, based on a set of hypotheticals and generic grievances that failed to provide any facts or circumstances that would support massive federal preemption of state law."
"AEE looks forward to returning to its work with FERC and with state regulators to identify and put in place policies that give individual households and businesses more options for owning and utilizing distributed energy resources to meet their own needs, and that maximize utilization of those resources in both retail and wholesale markets to lower overall system costs and improve the reliability and resilience of the grid for all consumers. "
*AEE offers free, complimentary access to its PowerSuite online platform tracking all federal and state energy legislation and regulatory filings to credentialed media. Sign up for a free trial and contact Monique Hanis (mhanis@aee.net) for permanent access.
About Advanced Energy Economy
Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) is a national association of businesses that are making the energy we use secure, clean, and affordable. Advanced energy encompasses a broad range of products and services that constitute the best available technologies for meeting energy needs today and tomorrow. AEE’s mission is to transform public policy to enable rapid growth of advanced energy businesses. Engaged at the federal level and in more than a dozen states around the country, AEE represents more than 100 companies in the $238 billion U.S. advanced energy industry, which employs 3.6 million U.S. workers. Learn more at www.aee.net, track the latest news @AEEnet.