Community Solar Consumer Choice Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2751 To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to increase partici- pation in community solar programs and the receipt of associated bene- fits, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 20, 2023 Ms. CASTOR of Florida (for herself, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. NORTON, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, and Ms. BROWNLEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to increase participation in community solar programs and the receipt of associated benefits, 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 ‘‘Community Solar Con- 4 sumer Choice Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2751.IH H2751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2751 IH SEC. 2. COMMUNITY SOLAR CONSUMER CHOICE PROGRAM; 1 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATION IN 2 COMMUNITY SOLAR. 3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY SOLAR CON- 4 SUMER CHOICE PROGRAM.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 7 shall establish a program to increase access to com- 8 munity solar programs for— 9 (A) individuals, particularly individuals 10 that do not have regular access to onsite solar, 11 including low- and moderate-income individuals; 12 (B) businesses; 13 (C) nonprofit organizations; and 14 (D) States and local and Tribal govern- 15 ments. 16 (2) ALIGNMENT WITH EXISTING FEDERAL PRO- 17 GRAMS.—The Secretary shall align the program es- 18 tablished under paragraph (1) with existing Federal 19 programs that serve low-income communities. 20 (3) ASSISTANCE TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERN- 21 MENTS.—In carrying out the program established 22 under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 23 (A) provide technical assistance to States 24 and local and Tribal governments for projects 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2751.IH H2751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2751 IH to increase access to community solar pro- 1 grams; 2 (B) assist States and local and Tribal gov- 3 ernments in the development of new and inno- 4 vative financial and business models that lever- 5 age competition in the energy marketplace in 6 order to serve subscribers; and 7 (C) use National Laboratories to collect 8 and disseminate data to assist private entities 9 in the financing of, subscription to, and oper- 10 ation of community solar facilities and commu- 11 nity solar programs. 12 (b) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATION IN COM- 13 MUNITY SOLAR PROGRAMS.—The Secretary shall, to the 14 extent practicable, expand the existing grant, loan, and fi- 15 nancing programs of the Department of Energy to include 16 community solar programs. 17 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 18 (1) COMMUNITY SOLAR FACILITY; COMMUNITY 19 SOLAR PROGRAM; SUBSCRIBER.—The terms ‘‘com- 20 munity solar facility’’, ‘‘community solar program’’, 21 and ‘‘subscriber’’ have the meanings given such 22 terms in section 111(d)(22) of the Public Utility 23 Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (as added by section 24 3 of this Act). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2751.IH H2751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2751 IH (2) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na- 1 tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given such term 2 in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 3 U.S.C. 15801). 4 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 5 the Secretary of Energy. 6 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY SOLAR PRO- 7 GRAMS. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 111(d) of the Public Util- 9 ity Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2621(d)) 10 is amended by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(22) COMMUNITY SOLAR PROGRAMS.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each electric utility 13 shall offer a community solar program that pro- 14 vides all ratepayers, including low-income rate- 15 payers, equitable and demonstrable access to 16 such community solar program. 17 ‘‘(B) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of 18 this paragraph: 19 ‘‘(i) The term ‘community solar facil- 20 ity’ means a solar photovoltaic system 21 that— 22 ‘‘(I) allocates electricity to mul- 23 tiple electric consumers of an electric 24 utility; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2751.IH H2751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2751 IH ‘‘(II) is connected to local dis- 1 tribution infrastructure of the electric 2 utility; 3 ‘‘(III) is located either on or off 4 the property of one or more sub- 5 scribers; and 6 ‘‘(IV) may be owned by an elec- 7 tric utility, one more subscribers, or a 8 third party. 9 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘community solar pro- 10 gram’ means a service provided to any 11 electric consumer that the electric utility 12 serves through which the value of elec- 13 tricity generated by a community solar fa- 14 cility may be used to offset charges billed 15 to the electric consumer by the electric 16 utility. 17 ‘‘(iii) The term ‘subscriber’ means an 18 electric consumer who participates in a 19 community solar program.’’. 20 (b) COMPLIANCE.— 21 (1) TIME LIMITATIONS.—Section 112(b) of the 22 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 23 U.S.C. 2622(b)) is amended by adding at the end 24 the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2751.IH H2751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2751 IH ‘‘(9)(A) Not later than 1 year after the date of 1 enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 2 authority (with respect to each electric utility for 3 which the State has ratemaking authority) and each 4 nonregulated electric utility shall commence consid- 5 eration under section 111, or set a hearing date for 6 consideration, with respect to the standard estab- 7 lished by paragraph (22) of section 111(d). 8 ‘‘(B) Not later than 2 years after the date of 9 enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 10 authority (with respect to each electric utility for 11 which the State has ratemaking authority), and each 12 nonregulated electric utility shall complete the con- 13 sideration and make the determination under section 14 111 with respect to the standard established by 15 paragraph (22) of section 111(d).’’. 16 (2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.— 17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 112(c) of the 18 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 19 (16 U.S.C. 2622(c)) is amended— 20 (i) by striking ‘‘subsection (b)(2)’’ and 21 inserting ‘‘subsection (b)’’; and 22 (ii) by adding at the end the fol- 23 lowing: ‘‘In the case of the standard estab- 24 lished by paragraph (22) of section 111(d), 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2751.IH H2751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2751 IH the reference contained in this subsection 1 to the date of enactment of this Act shall 2 be deemed to be a reference to the date of 3 enactment of that paragraph (22).’’. 4 (3) PRIOR STATE ACTIONS.— 5 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 112 of the 6 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 7 (16 U.S.C. 2622) is amended by adding at the 8 end the following: 9 ‘‘(i) PRIOR STATE ACTIONS.—Subsections (b) and 10 (c) shall not apply to the standard established by para- 11 graph (22) of section 111(d) in the case of any electric 12 utility in a State if, before the date of enactment of this 13 subsection— 14 ‘‘(1) the State has implemented for the electric 15 utility the standard (or a comparable standard); 16 ‘‘(2) the State regulatory authority for the 17 State or the relevant nonregulated electric utility has 18 conducted a proceeding to consider implementation 19 of the standard (or a comparable standard) for the 20 electric utility; or 21 ‘‘(3) the State legislature has voted on the im- 22 plementation of the standard (or a comparable 23 standard) for the electric utility.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2751.IH H2751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2751 IH (B) CROSS-REFERENCE.—Section 124 of 1 the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 2 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2634) is amended by adding 3 at the end the following: ‘‘In the case of the 4 standard established by paragraph (22) of sec- 5 tion 111(d), the reference contained in this sub- 6 section to the date of enactment of this Act 7 shall be deemed to be a reference to the date 8 of enactment of that paragraph (22).’’. 9 SEC. 4. FEDERAL CONTRACTS FOR PUBLIC UTILITY SERV- 10 ICES. 11 Section 501(b)(1) of title 40, United States Code, is 12 amended by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting the 13 following: 14 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC UTILITY CONTRACTS.—A 15 contract under this paragraph for public utility 16 services may be for a period of not more than 17 30 years.’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:33 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2751.IH H2751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS