The Solar Energy Compensation Debate Continues In 2015

The ongoing advance of distributed photovoltaic ("PV") solar power generation in the U.S. continues to stoke debate regarding how residential PV customers should be compensated for feeding power back into the grid.

Historically, net energy metering ("NEM") was the rate structure pursuant to which such customers have been paid. In the 43 states with NEM rate designs, the energy produced by a customer's PV system each month, measured on a kilowatt hour ("kWh") basis, is subtracted from the energy consumed by the customer for that month, and then the customer in turn pays the utility for the net amount of power. If the amount of power generated by a customer for a given month exceeds the amount of power consumed then, depending on the jurisdiction, the customer receives for such excess power either a volumetric bill credit for energy use determined at the full retail rate, a cash payment determined at the full retail rate or, less commonly, a cash payment determined