FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 386
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR TRENT.
1344S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To amend chapter 386, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to a community solar
pilot program.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 386, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto 1
one new section, to be known as section 386.875, to read as 2
follows:3
386.875. 1. As used in this section, the following 1
terms shall mean: 2
(1) "Bill credit", the commission -approved monetary 3
value of each kilowatt hour of electricity generate d by a 4
community solar facility and allocated to a subscriber's 5
monthly bill to offset the subscriber's retail electric bill; 6
(2) "Community solar facility", a facility that: 7
(a) Generates electricity by means of a solar 8
photovoltaic device whereby subscribers receive a bill 9
credit for the electricity generated based on the size of 10
the subscriptions; 11
(b) Is located within the state of Missouri; 12
(c) Is connected to and delivers electricity to a 13
distribution system operated by a retail electric supplier 14
operating in the state of Missouri and in compliance with 15
requirements under this section; 16
(d) Has a nameplate capacity greater than one hundred 17
AC kilowatts and no greater than five thousand AC kilowatts; 18 SB 386 2
(e) Has at least ten subscribers; 19
(f) Credits some or all of the electricity generated 20
from a community solar facility to the bills of subscribers; 21
(g) May be located remotely from a subscriber's 22
premises and shall not be required to provide energy to an 23
on-site load; 24
(3) "Community solar organization", an entity that 25
owns or operates one or more community solar facilities; 26
(4) "Customer-generator", the same meaning as set 27
forth in section 386.890; 28
(5) "Low-income customer", a retai l residential 29
customer of a retail electric supplier whose household 30
income adjusted for family size does not exceed either two 31
hundred percent of the federal poverty level or eighty 32
percent of the median income of the county in which the 33
customer is located, whichever is higher. Owners or 34
managers of apartment buildings or rental units that serve 35
low-income customers may be considered low -income customers 36
if fifty percent or more of the tenants qualify under this 37
definition. Further, certain ent ities, organizations, and 38
institutions that are focused on social welfare and that 39
serve the low-income customer community may also qualify, 40
including but not limited to: homeless shelters, halfway 41
houses, soup kitchens, foster homes, orphanages, and other 42
similar organizations; 43
(6) "Retail electric supplier", an electrical 44
corporation regulated under chapter 386 that provides retail 45
electric service in this state; 46
(7) "Subscriber", a retail customer of a retail 47
electric supplier who ow ns one or more subscriptions to a 48
community solar facility interconnected with the customer's 49
retail electric supplier. The term includes a retail 50 SB 386 3
customer who owns a portion of a community solar facility. 51
A subscriber's subscription size shall be on e hundred 52
percent or less of their twelve -month rolling average 53
kilowatt hour usage for any one subscriber meter; 54
(8) "Subscriber administrator", an entity that 55
recruits and enrolls subscribers, administers subscriber 56
participation in community s olar facilities, and manages the 57
subscription relationship between subscribers and a retail 58
electric supplier; 59
(9) "Subscription", a contract between a subscriber 60
and subscriber administrator of a community solar facility 61
that entitles the subscr iber to a bill credit against the 62
subscriber's retail electric bill; 63
(10) "Unsubscribed energy", the output of a community 64
solar facility, measured in kilowatt hours, that is not 65
allocated to subscribers. 66
2. Each retail electric supplier sha ll implement a 67
three-year community solar pilot program to run during 68
calendar years 2026 through 2028. Retail electric suppliers 69
shall allow subscriber administrators and owners or 70
operators of community solar facilities to recruit customers 71
as subscribers, and shall process subscribers' bill credits 72
as required by subdivision (8) of subsection 3 of this 73
section. Each retail electric supplier shall continue 74
operating its community solar pilot program until the total 75
solar electricity demand from subscribers equals five 76
percent of the retail electric supplier's electricity sales 77
for the previous year. 78
3. Community solar facilities shall be operated as 79
follows: 80
(1) A community solar facility may be built, owned, or 81
operated by a third party entity under contract with an 82 SB 386 4
owner or operator of a community solar facility or a 83
subscriber administrator. A subscriber administrator may 84
contract to administer bill credits to the subscriber's 85
electricity bill generated by the subscriber's share of the 86
community solar facility, subject to the requirements of 87
this section. A subscriber administrator that provides bill 88
credits to a subscriber pursuant to this section shall not 89
be considered an electrical corporation or public utility 90
under section 386.020 for purposes of determining 91
jurisdiction of the commission; 92
(2) The owner or operator of a community solar 93
facility may serve as a subscriber administrator or may 94
contract with a third party to serve as a subscriber 95
administrator on behalf of the owner or operator. Nothing 96
in this section shall prevent a retail electric supplier 97
from owning or operating a community solar facility or from 98
acting as a subscriber administrator as part of its own 99
community solar pilot program; 100
(3) Except as provided under subdivision (4) of this 101
subsection, the price paid for a subscription in a community 102
solar facility shall not be subject to regulation by the 103
commission; 104
(4) Not later than nine months after the effective 105
date of this section, the commission shall establish the 106
value of the bill credit for each retail electric supplier 107
to offset each subscriber's retail electric bill for each 108
kilowatt hour subscribed from a community solar facility. 109
The commission shall est ablish the bill credit value in such 110
a way as to allow for the creation, financing, 111
accessibility, and operation of community solar facilities 112
and to maximize customer participation so as to meet the 113
goal of five percent of electricity sales per year a s 114 SB 386 5
required by subsection 2 of this section. The commission 115
shall establish an additional bill credit value for 116
subscribers who are low -income customers in such a way as to 117
ensure that low-income subscribers save money on their 118
retail electric bills; 119
(5) A retail electric supplier shall allow for the 120
transferability and portability of subscriptions, including 121
allowing a subscriber to retain a subscription to a 122
community solar facility if the subscriber relocates within 123
the same retail electri c supplier's service territory; 124
(6) On a monthly basis, a subscriber administrator 125
shall update the subscriber administrator's list of 126
subscribers and provide all of the following information 127
about each subscriber to the retail electric supplier i n a 128
standardized electronic format approved by the commission 129
for the purpose of bill credit to subscribers: 130
(a) The name, address, account number, and meter 131
number; 132
(b) The kilowatt hours of electricity generation 133
attributable to each subs criber; 134
(c) If a subscriber administrator is using the retail 135
electric supplier's billing methods to collect subscription 136
fees, the subscription fee for the month owed by each 137
subscriber to the subscriber administrator; 138
(7) A subscriber administrator or third party owning 139
or operating a community solar facility shall not be 140
considered a retail electric supplier or an electric 141
generation provider solely as a result of involvement with a 142
community solar facility; 143
(8) Duties of retail electric suppliers shall include 144
the following: 145 SB 386 6
(a) On a monthly basis, a retail electric supplier 146
shall provide to a subscriber administrator a report in a 147
standardized electronic format indicating the total value of 148
the bill credit generated by the community solar facility in 149
the prior month and the amount of the bill credit applied to 150
each subscriber; 151
(b) A retail electric supplier shall provide a bill 152
credit to a subscriber's next monthly electric bill for the 153
proportional output of a community solar facility 154
attributable to the subscriber in the same manner as if the 155
solar facility were located on the customer's property; 156
(c) If requested by a subscriber administrator, a 157
retail electric supplier shall include a subscriber's 158
subscription fee on the monthly bill and forward the 159
collected subscription fees to the subscriber administrator 160
on a monthly basis; 161
(d) Not later than August 28, 2026, a retail electric 162
supplier shall make available and update, in a commercially 163
reasonable manner, a system map showing the loading of the 164
distribution system and indicating where in the service area 165
the distribution system could accommodate new solar 166
generation; 167
(9) Compensation for retail electric suppliers shall 168
be as follows: 169
(a) A subscriber administrator shall compensate a 170
retail electric supplier for the retail electric supplier's 171
reasonable direct costs of interconnection of a community 172
solar facility. Such compensation shall be in the form of a 173
one-time payment upon interconnection; 174
(b) A retail electric supplier shall be entitled to 175
recover its reasonable direct costs of complying with the 176
requirements of this section and enabling a community solar 177 SB 386 7
facility within its service territory, includin g but not 178
limited to: added billing costs and added costs of net 179
metering and interconnection for community solar 180
facilities. Such reasonable direct costs shall be in the 181
form of an annual fee invoiced to the subscriber 182
administrator based on the to tal final system size of the 183
community solar facility; 184
(10) Each community solar facility shall be subscribed 185
with at least ten percent low -income customers and twenty 186
percent residential customers; 187
(11) A retail electric supplier shall purc hase 188
unsubscribed energy from a community solar facility at the 189
retail electric supplier's avoided cost as approved by the 190
commission. No later than nine months after August 28, 191
2025, the commission shall promulgate rules to implement the 192
provisions of this section regarding the purchase of 193
unsubscribed energy; 194
(12) No entity, affiliated entity, or entities under 195
common control may develop, own, or operate more than one 196
community solar facility on the same parcel or contiguous 197
parcels of land. 198
4. Interconnection standards for community solar 199
facilities under one hundred kilowatts shall be the same as 200
the standards for net -metered customers pursuant to section 201
386.890. For systems larger than one hundred kilowatts, the 202
commission shall develop technical and net metering 203
interconnection rules for customer -generators intending to 204
operate community solar facilities or renewable onsite 205
generators in parallel with the electric utility grid, 206
consistent with rules defined in other state s within the 207
service region of the regional transmission organization 208
that manages the transmission system in any part of the 209 SB 386 8
state. In developing its rules, the commission shall 210
convene a stakeholder process to develop statewide technical 211
and net metering rules for customer generators with systems 212
larger than one hundred kilowatts. 213
5. The commission shall promulgate rules and 214
regulations to implement the provisions of this section 215
within nine months of August 28, 2025. Any rule or portion 216
of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, that 217
is created under the authority delegated in this section 218
shall become effective only if it complies with and is 219
subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536 and, if 220
applicable, section 536. 028. This section and chapter 536 221
are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the 222
general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay 223
the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are 224
subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of 225
rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after 226
August 28, 2025, shall be invalid and void. 227