II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 346 To provide for the study and evaluation of net metering, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 6, 2019 Ms. HASSAN (for herself, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. SHAHEEN, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources A BILL To provide for the study and evaluation of net metering, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Evaluation 4 of Techniques for Making Energy Technologies More Effi- 5 cient and Resilient Act of 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. NET METERING STUDY AND EVALUATION. 7 Title XVIII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public 8 Law 109–58; 119 Stat. 1122) is amended by adding at 9 the end the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S346.IS S346 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 346 IS ‘‘SEC. 1841. NET METERING STUDY AND EVALUATION. 1 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 2 the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall 3 seek to enter into an agreement with the National Acad- 4 emies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (referred to 5 in this section as the ‘National Academies’) under which 6 the National Academies shall— 7 ‘‘(1) study the opportunities and challenges as- 8 sociated with net metering; and 9 ‘‘(2) evaluate the expected medium- and long- 10 term impacts of net metering. 11 ‘‘(b) ELEMENTS.—The study and evaluation con- 12 ducted pursuant to the agreement entered into under sub- 13 section (a) shall address— 14 ‘‘(1) developments in net metering, including 15 the emergence of new technologies; 16 ‘‘(2) alternatives to existing metering systems 17 that— 18 ‘‘(A) provide for transactions that— 19 ‘‘(i) measure electric energy consump- 20 tion by an electric consumer at the home 21 or facility of that electric consumer; and 22 ‘‘(ii) are capable of sending electric 23 energy usage information through a com- 24 munications network to an electric utility; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S346.IS S346 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 346 IS ‘‘(B) promote equitable distribution of re- 1 sources and costs; and 2 ‘‘(C) provide incentives for the use of dis- 3 tributed renewable generation; 4 ‘‘(3) net metering planning and operating tech- 5 niques; 6 ‘‘(4) effective architecture for net metering; 7 ‘‘(5) successful net metering business models; 8 ‘‘(6) consumer and industry incentives for net 9 metering; 10 ‘‘(7) the role of renewable resources in the elec- 11 tric grid; 12 ‘‘(8) the role of net metering in developing fu- 13 ture models for renewable infrastructure; and 14 ‘‘(9) the use of battery storage with net meter- 15 ing. 16 ‘‘(c) REPORT.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The agreement entered into 18 under subsection (a) shall require the National 19 Academies to submit to the Secretary, not later than 20 2 years after entering into the agreement, a report 21 that describes the results of the study and evalua- 22 tion conducted pursuant to the agreement. 23 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The report sub- 24 mitted under paragraph (1) shall be made available 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S346.IS S346 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 346 IS to the public through electronic means, including the 1 internet.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S346.IS S346 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS