House Study Bill 81 - Introduced HOUSE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE BILL BY CHAIRPERSON LUNDGREN) A BILL FOR An Act relating to solar energy by establishing a community 1 solar facility program. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 1491YC (4) 91 sb/js
H.F. _____ Section 1. Section 476.1, Code 2025, is amended by adding 1 the following new subsection: 2 NEW SUBSECTION . 5. A community solar facility established 3 pursuant to section 476.50 shall not be regarded as a public 4 utility for purposes of this chapter. 5 Sec. 2. Section 476.25, Code 2025, is amended by adding the 6 following new subsection: 7 NEW SUBSECTION . 4. The furnishing of electricity pursuant 8 to a community solar facility under section 476.50 shall not 9 be considered an unnecessary duplication of electric utility 10 facilities and shall not constitute a violation of this 11 section. 12 Sec. 3. NEW SECTION . 476.50 Community solar facility 13 program established. 14 1. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise 15 requires: 16 a. Bill credit means the monetary value of the electricity 17 in kilowatt-hours generated by the community solar facility 18 allocated to a subscriber to offset that subscribers 19 electricity bill. 20 b. (1) Except as provided in subparagraph (2), a community 21 solar facility means a distributed generation facility that 22 generates electricity by means of a solar photovoltaic device 23 whereby subscribers receive a bill credit for the electricity 24 generated in proportion to the size of the customers 25 subscription and all of the following conditions apply: 26 (a) The facility is located on one or more parcels of land 27 and no other community solar facility under the control of the 28 same entity, an affiliates entity, or an entity under common 29 control is located on that land. 30 (b) At the time the facility initially meets the 31 requirements set forth in the tariff to participate in the 32 program, the facility is not located within one mile, measured 33 from the point of interconnection, of a community solar 34 facility under the control of the same entity. 35 -1- LSB 1491YC (4) 91 sb/js 1/ 6
H.F. _____ (c) The facility has at least three subscribers. 1 (d) The facility generates not more than five megawatts of 2 electricity as measured in alternating current. 3 (e) No subscriber holds more than a forty percent interest 4 in the output of the facility. 5 (f) Not less than sixty percent of the capacity of the 6 facility is subscribed to by subscriptions of not more than 7 forty kilowatts. 8 (2) A distributed generation facility qualifies as a 9 community solar facility if the distributed generation facility 10 generates not more than one megawatt of electricity as measured 11 in alternating current and meets the conditions described in 12 subparagraph (1), subparagraph divisions (a), (b), and (d), 13 even if the distributed generation facility does not meet any 14 of the conditions described in subparagraph (1), subparagraph 15 divisions (c), (e), and (f). 16 c. Electric utility means a public utility that furnishes 17 electricity to the public for compensation that is required to 18 be rate-regulated under this chapter. 19 d. Subscriber means a customer of an electric utility 20 subject to this section who owns one or more subscriptions to a 21 community solar facility interconnected with that utility. 22 e. Subscriber organization means a for-profit or nonprofit 23 entity that owns or operates one or more community solar 24 facilities. 25 f. Subscription means a proportional contractual interest 26 in a community solar facility under which the estimated bill 27 credits of the subscriber do not exceed the average annual 28 bill for the customer account to which the subscription is 29 attributed. 30 2. a. A community solar facility program is established 31 to encourage and enhance the generation of solar energy and to 32 encourage and enhance the ability of electric utility customers 33 to participate in and derive benefit from alternate solar 34 energy projects. 35 -2- LSB 1491YC (4) 91 sb/js 2/ 6
H.F. _____ b. An electric utility shall provide a bill credit to a 1 subscribers subsequent monthly electric bill. Any amount of 2 the bill credit that exceeds the subscribers monthly bill 3 shall be carried over in the subscribers account and applied 4 to the next months bill in perpetuity. 5 c. An electric utility shall be required to bill subscribers 6 to a community solar facility in accordance with section 7 476.49, to the extent that section does not conflict with this 8 section. 9 d. An electric utility shall review its interconnection 10 processes to ensure they are adequate to facilitate the 11 efficient and cost-effective interconnection of community solar 12 facilities and allow an investor-owned electric utility to 13 recover reasonable interconnection costs for each community 14 solar facility. 15 e. A subscriber may subscribe all of their electricity 16 meters to a community solar facility. 17 f. Community solar facilities may be owned by investors. 18 g. An electric utility shall provide a bill credit to 19 a subscribers subsequent monthly electric bill for the 20 proportional output of a community solar facility attributable 21 to that subscriber for not less than twenty-five years from the 22 date the solar facility is first placed into operation. 23 h. A subscriber organization shall periodically and in 24 a standardized electronic format provide to the electric 25 utility whose service territory includes the location of the 26 subscriber organizations community solar facility a subscriber 27 list indicating the percentage of generation attributable 28 to each of the electric utilitys retail customers who are 29 subscribers to a community solar facility in accordance with 30 the subscribers portion of the output of the community solar 31 facility. The electric utility shall create a platform for the 32 subscriber organization to periodically communicate updates to 33 the subscriber list to reflect canceling subscribers and new 34 subscribers. 35 -3- LSB 1491YC (4) 91 sb/js 3/ 6
H.F. _____ i. An electric utility shall provide a subscriber 1 organization a report each month in a standardized electronic 2 format detailing the total value of bill credits generated 3 by the subscriber organizations community solar facility in 4 the prior month and the amount of bill credits applied to each 5 subscriber. 6 j. A subscriber organization may accumulate bill credits 7 if all of the electricity generated by a community solar 8 facility is not allocated to subscribers in a given month. On 9 an annual basis, the subscriber organization shall furnish 10 to the electric utility whose service territory includes the 11 location of the subscriber organizations community solar 12 facility instructions for distributing accumulated bill 13 credits to subscribers. The electric utility shall apply 14 accumulated credits to a subscribers electric utility account 15 in accordance with section 476.49. 16 k. Any renewable energy credits created from the production 17 of electricity in a community solar facility are the property 18 of the subscriber organization that owns or operates the 19 community solar facility. The subscriber organization may 20 sell, accumulate, retire, or distribute to subscribers the 21 renewable energy credits of the subscriber organization. 22 3. The commission shall adopt rules to implement the 23 provisions of this section that accomplish all of the 24 following: 25 a. Reasonably allow for the creation and financing of 26 community solar facilities. 27 b. Allow all customer classes to participate as subscribers 28 to a community solar facility, and ensure participation 29 opportunities for all customer classes. 30 c. Prohibit removing a customer from the customers 31 applicable customer class due to the customer subscribing to a 32 community solar facility. 33 d. Reasonably allow for the transferability and portability 34 of subscriptions, including allowing a subscriber to retain a 35 -4- LSB 1491YC (4) 91 sb/js 4/ 6
H.F. _____ subscription to a community solar facility if the subscriber 1 moves within the same investor-owned electric utilitys service 2 territory. 3 e. Modify existing interconnection standards, fees, 4 and processes as needed to facilitate the efficient and 5 cost-effective interconnection of community solar facilities 6 and that allow an electric utility to recover reasonable 7 interconnection costs for each community solar facility. 8 f. Provide for consumer protection in accordance with 9 existing laws. 10 g. Allow an electric utility to recover costs of applying 11 bill credits under this section. 12 h. Require electric utilities to efficiently connect 13 community solar facilities to the electrical distribution grid 14 and not discriminate against community solar facilities. 15 i. Require a subscriber organization to satisfy 16 interconnection process benchmarks, demonstrate site control, 17 and obtain all applicable nonministerial permits for a 18 community solar facility before the subscriber organization 19 owns or operates the facility. 20 Sec. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF TARIFFS. By January 1, 2026, an 21 electric utility, as defined in section 476.50, as enacted by 22 this Act, shall file new or updated tariffs, if applicable, to 23 implement any necessary changes resulting from this Act. 24 EXPLANATION 25 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 26 the explanations substance by the members of the general assembly. 27 This bill establishes a community solar facility program. 28 The bill specifies that an electric utility for 29 purposes of the bill is a public utility that provides 30 electricity to the public for compensation and is required 31 to be rate-regulated under Code chapter 476. The bill 32 defines community solar facility to mean a distributed 33 generation facility that generates electricity through solar 34 panels whereby subscribers may receive bill credits for 35 -5- LSB 1491YC (4) 91 sb/js 5/ 6
H.F. _____ the electricity generated in proportion to the size of the 1 customers subscription. The bill defines subscriber to mean 2 a customer of an electric utility who owns at least one share 3 of a subscription to a community solar facility. A subscriber 4 organization is a for-profit or nonprofit entity that owns 5 or operates one or more community solar facilities. The bill 6 defines subscription to mean a proportional contractual 7 interest in a community solar facility. 8 The bill establishes a community solar facility program to 9 encourage and enhance solar energy generation and the ability 10 of electric public utility customers to participate in and 11 derive benefit from alternate solar energy projects. 12 The bill requires an electric utility to bill subscribers in 13 accordance with billing methods established pursuant to Code 14 section 476.49. 15 The bill requires an electric utility to review its 16 interconnection processes with community solar facilities to 17 ensure adequacy, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness and to 18 allow an investor-owned electric utility to recover reasonable 19 interconnection costs. The bill allows a subscriber to include 20 all of the subscribers electricity meters in the community 21 solar facility. The bill provides that a community solar 22 facility may be owned by investors. The bill provides specific 23 procedures and requirements for the administration of bill 24 credits and subscriber information. 25 The bill requires the Iowa utilities commission to adopt 26 rules regarding implementation of the bills provisions. 27 The bill requires an electric utility to file new or updated 28 tariffs, if applicable, by January 1, 2026, to implement any 29 necessary changes resulting from the bill. 30 -6- LSB 1491YC (4) 91 sb/js 6/ 6