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July 7, 2010

House Bill seeks nationwide standard for net metering

Washington State Congressman Jay Inslee has been working with utility Puget Sound Energy to draw up the net metering legislation

A new bill has been introduced in Congress seeking a national standard for electricity generated by homes and businesses to be fed into the grid.

The Americans Making Power Act was introduced by Washington State Representative Jay Inslee on Friday.

Congressman Inslee said a nationwide standard for net metering would improve the reliability of the US electricity network by encouraging a more diffuse means of power generation.

“Our new clean energy economy can start right at home,” said Rep. Inslee. “By empowering Americans, this legislation can help build the clean energy economy of the 21st century while saving families money. Imagine getting a credit on your bill from your utility company every month because you generated more power than you use.”

The AMP Act aims to modify the 1978 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act to set requirements for connecting up renewable energy equipment to the grid.

Flexible

According to the Congressman from Washington State, the legislation is flexible enough to allow states to set their own net metering or interconnection standards, so long as they go above and beyond the AMP standard.

Some 42 states have already adopted some form of net metering or interconnection standards.

The AMP Act has been drawn up by Congressman Inslee with Puget Sound Energy, a utility based in his home state.

Steve Reynolds, CEO of Puget Sound Energy, said: “Jay is a leader for customer-owned renewable energy initiatives and understands a regulated utility’s need to recover the fixed infrastructure investments.”