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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 7087
AN ACT CONCERNING COMMUNITY SOLAR ENERGY
GENERATING SYSTEMS.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to
start a proceeding, by December 1, 2025, to establish a community solar
energy generating system (“community solar project”) pilot program.
Under the program, electric customers may subscribe to a community
solar project and receive credits for a portion of the electricity the system
generates. These credits are applied, through virtual net energy
metering, toward the subscriber’s account or meter with an electric
distribution company (EDC, i.e. Eversource and United Illuminating).
The bill specifies that municipal electric utilities and cooperative utilities
may participate in the program, but also limits subscriber participation
to only EDC customers.
The bill caps the pilot program at 600 megawatts, based on the
nameplate capacity of all projects. It also, among other things,
establishes processes for a community solar project to sell any excess
credits it generates, requires PURA to adopt pilot program regulations
(including a tariff structure that provides the retail rate for energy
produced under a subscription), and allows a participating community
solar project to continue operating as one even after the pilot program
ends. (Presumably, the pilot program ends when subscriber
organizations claim 600 megawatts in capacity.)
Additionally, the bill establishes a working group to study the pilot
program and make recommendations to PURA on whether a permanent
program should be established.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2025 2025HB-07087-R000560-BA.DOCX
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COMMUNITY SOLAR PROJ ECT PILOT PROGRAM
Community Solar Energy Generating Projects
Under the bill, a community solar project is a solar photovoltaic
system located in ISO–New England territory that may have a
connected energy storage system. To qualify, a project must have at least
two subscribers.
Through virtual net energy metering, described below, subscribers
receive credits on their bills (presumably electric bills) for a portion of
the electricity the project generates. (The bill does not specify how EDCs
recover their costs for the program.)
A community solar project must have its own electric meter or be
connected to two or more subscribers’ electric meters. To qualify, a
project may not be owned by an EDC and no individual subscriber may
constitute more than 60% of the total subscriptions.
EDCs must use the energy a community solar project produces to
offset the electricity it purchases from wholesale suppliers for its
standard service.
The bill specifies a subscriber organization (the community solar
project’s owner or a collective group of subscribers) may contract with
an outside party to finance, construct, own, or operate a community
solar project. It also makes the subscriber organization responsible for
paying any costs associated with small generator interconnection
standards PURA may adopt or approve.
Notification of Offers
EDCs must place a message on customers’ electric bills letting them
know how to subscribe to a community solar project and about offers
on the Energy Conservation Management Board’s website. The bill
allows subscriber organizations to submit information, for posting on
this website, about potential offers and subscriptions it provides,
including any that may be used in combination with other sources’
electric supply offers. 2025HB-07087-R000560-BA.DOCX
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Subscribers and Subscriptions
Under the bill, subscribers must be EDC retail customers, but all rate
classes are eligible to participate. Subscribers must have at least one
individual meter or account to which the subscription can be applied.
The bill specifies that electric customers receiving their electric supply
through a standard service plan and those receiving it through a third-
party supplier may subscribe to the same community solar project.
The bill requires the community solar project’s subscriber
organization to allocate subscriptions among subscribers.
Virtual Net Energy Metering and Subscriber Credits
Under the bill, virtual net energy metering is measured over a
subscriber’s billing period and is the difference between the number of
kilowatt hours (kWh) that are supplied by the electric company and the
number attributable to his or her subscription and fed back to the
electric grid. It may also be measured using the difference in electricity
value, rather than kWh.
Billing. The subscriber organization calculates the credits owed each
subscriber under the bill and the EDC must provide these credits
according to a tariff structure in regulations PURA must adopt, as
described below. The EDC must additionally offer subscriber
organizations a “consolidated billing mechanism,” through which the
EDC also bills subscribers for charges (or credits) related to the
community solar project’s operations.
Credit Cap. The bill limits the credits a subscriber may receive. A
subscriber may not receive credit for virtual net excess generation
(presumably, credit that exceeds usage) that exceeds 200% of the
subscriber’s baseline annual usage (i.e. the total kWh used over the 12
months before the most recent subscription began or, if the subscriber
does not have this record, a 12-month estimate determined in a way that
PURA approves).
Sale of Excess and Unsubscribed Energy and Credits
To EDCs. If the community solar project generates kilowatt hours 2025HB-07087-R000560-BA.DOCX
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that are not allocated to any subscriber (i.e. unsubscribed energy), the
bill allows the subscriber organization to sell them to an EDC under the
company’s processes for purchasing the output from qualifying
facilities at the amount the energy would cost to procure on the electric
market in the state.
The subscriber organization may transfer any unsubscribed or
overproduced energy credits to the Connecticut Green Bank as
described below.
By Connecticut Green Bank. The bill requires the Connecticut
Green Bank, in consultation with the Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection (DEEP), to establish and administer a
community solar energy credit sale program. Under this program,
subscriber organizations may transfer any unsubscribed or
overproduced energy credits to the bank, which then owns them until
it sells or disposes of them. Under the bill, the bank determines the
purchase price of the credits it receives from the subscriber organization.
(Presumably this is the price the Green Bank pays the subscriber
organization for the credits.) After selling the credits, the bank must
remit the proceeds back to the subscriber organization, less an
administrative fee the bank sets in consultation with the commissioner.
Pilot Program Termination
The bill specifies that any community solar project or subscriber
organization contracts executed during the pilot program are not
affected by the program ending. Once the program ends, subscriber
organizations may continue operating projects (including accepting
subscriptions) that began under the pilot program. Similarly, EDCs
must continue to facilitate these projects’ operations. They must do so
in accordance with the program’s requirements and regulations PURA
adopts.
PURA Regulations
The bill requires PURA to adopt regulations to implement the pilot
program by February 1, 2026. These regulations must establish: 2025HB-07087-R000560-BA.DOCX
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1. consumer protections for electric customers;
2. a tariff structure providing the electric retail rate for the kWh or
value produced under a subscriber’s subscription;
3. a calculation for virtual net energy metering;
4. a protocol for EDCs, electric suppliers, and subscriber
organizations to exchange information about, calculate, and
provide monthly bill credits and any yearly net excess generation
payments required under the bill (the bill does not define or
otherwise reference yearly excess generation payments); and
5. a protocol for subscriber organizations to coordinate with EDCs
to interconnect their community solar projects with the
distribution grid and start operating the projects.
Once PURA adopts these regulations, subscriber organizations may
petition EDCs to coordinate the community solar project’s
interconnection and the start of its operations. Subscriber organizations
must notify each EDC and electric supplier serving its subscribers about
the regulations.
PILOT PROGRAM WORKIN G GROUP
The bill establishes a working group to study the pilot program’s
value and costs and make recommendations to PURA on whether a
permanent program should be established. The PURA chairperson must
submit, by January 1, 2028, a report to the Energy and Technology
Committee analyzing the working group’s findings. The working group
terminates on this date or when it submits the report, whichever is later.
Membership and Initial Meeting
The working group members include the following or their
designees: the (1) PURA chairperson, (2) DEEP commissioner, and (3)
consumer counsel. The PURA chairperson may also appoint any other
people she believes may help the working group achieve its purpose.
Initial appointments must be made by July 1, 2026. The PURA 2025HB-07087-R000560-BA.DOCX
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chairperson (or, presumably, her designee if she appoints one in her
stead) is the working group’s chairperson and must fill vacancies and
schedule the first meeting, which must be held by October 1, 2026.
Study Considerations
When conducting the study, the working group must identify and
examine:
1. a framework to value the costs and benefits related to community
solar and virtual net energy metering;
2. the costs and benefits of community solar projects for
participating subscribers and other ratepayers;
3. credit mechanisms and operating structures allowing a project to
minimize electric companies’, electric suppliers’, or subscriber
organizations’ administrative costs;
4. the benefits and costs, including the technical impact, of
community solar projects and virtual net energy metering on
EDCs’ distribution grids;
5. issues, benefits, and concerns about participating in community
solar programs and projects by electric companies (including
investor-owned companies) and project owners and operators;
6. the technical impact that virtual net energy metering and these
projects have on the distribution system compared to the impact
of traditional net energy metering;
7. any impacts the program has on the standard service
procurement process;
8. community solar programs and cost-benefit studies in other
states;
9. whether and how community solar programs can reduce
renewable portfolio standard compliance costs; 2025HB-07087-R000560-BA.DOCX
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10. how community solar projects can impact locational marginal
prices in the state;
11. the pilot program’s impact on energy costs, including their
equitable allocation among ratepayers, and reliability;
12. the pilot program’s progress in attracting low- and moderate-
income customers and how future project developers can
increase their participation;
13. whether community solar energy generating systems provide a
net benefit overall in helping the state meet its distributed
generation and renewable goals; and
14. any other matters the working group considers relevant and
appropriate.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Energy and Technology Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 14 Nay 9 (03/18/2025)