Solar farms; allow local communities to join resources for.

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To: Energy
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Senator(s) McCaughn

SENATE BILL NO. 2785

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE MISSISSIPPI COMMUNITY SOLAR ACT OF 1
2026; TO DEFINE TERMS; TO REQUIRE THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION TO 2
ESTABLISH A PROGRAM THAT AFFORDS CONSUMERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO 3
PARTICIPATE IN COMMUNITY SOLAR PROJECTS; TO ESTABLISH GUIDELINES 4
FOR SUCH PROGRAM; TO PRESCRIBE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF COMMUNITY 5
SOLAR ORGANIZATIONS; TO ALLOW THE COMMISSION TO ESTABLISH CERTAIN 6
RULES AND REGULATIONS CONCERNING COMMUNITY SOLAR FACILITIES; TO 7
REQUIRE ELECTRIC UTILITIES TO ACCEPT INTERCONNECTION APPLICATIONS 8
FOR COMMUNITY SOLAR FACILITIES; TO REQUIRE THE COMMISSION TO 9
ESTABLISH AN INTERCONNECTION STUDY GROUP; TO REQUIRE EACH ELECTRIC 10
UTILITY TO SUBMIT A STANDARD INTERCONNECTION AGREEMENT FOR 11
COMMUNITY SOLAR FACILITIES FOR COMMISSION REVIEW AND APPROVAL; TO 12
ESTABLISH REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCH INTERCONNECTION AGREEMENT; TO 13
REQUIRE EACH ELECTRIC UTILITY TO FILE A DATA ACCESS PROGRAM FOR 14
COMMISSION REVIEW; TO PRESCRIBE REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCH PROGRAM; AND 15
FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 16
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 17
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the 18
"Mississippi Community Solar Act of 2026." 19
SECTION 2. As used in this section, the following terms 20
shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless context clearly 21
requires otherwise: 22
(a) "Avoided cost" means the incremental cost to an 23
electric utility which, but for the provision of energy and 24
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capacity from a solar technology, such electric utility would 25
incur to generate or procure electricity from another source. 26
(b) "Bill credit" means the monetary value of kilowatt 27
hours generated by a community solar facility allocated to a 28
subscriber's electricity bill pursuant to the community solar 29
program created by the commission and subject to commission 30
jurisdiction as described in this act. 31
(c) "Commission" means the Public Service Commission. 32
(d) "Community solar facility" means a system that: 33
(i) Generates electric energy that is fueled 34
solely by ambient sunlight and is connected to the electric 35
utility's distribution system; 36
(ii) Is located within the same electric service 37
territory as the customers it serves; 38
(iii) Has no subscribers that own a subscription 39
for more than forty percent (40%) of such facility's output; 40
(iv) Is not selling its energy outside of the 41
community solar program; and 42
(v) 1. Except as provided in item 2 of this 43
subparagraph, is not located on the same parcel as another system 44
that meets the requirements of subparagraphs (i) through (iv) of 45
this paragraph if the total capacity of the systems would exceed 46
five (5) megawatts alternating current, provided, however, that 47
such parcel shall not have been subdivided in order to meet such 48
requirements. 49
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2. The requirements of item 1 of this 50
subparagraph shall not apply to an aggregate of multiple systems 51
that together do not exceed five (5) megawatts alternating current 52
if such systems are located on the rooftops of buildings, deemed 53
to be in compliance with risk reduction standards, on landfills or 54
over parking lots or roadways. 55
(e) "Community solar organization" means any for-profit 56
or nonprofit entity that owns, operates or manages subscriptions 57
for one (1) or more community solar facilities. 58
(f) "Electric supplier" means any electric light and 59
power company subject to regulation by the commission, any 60
electric cooperative furnishing retail service in this state and 61
any municipality which furnishes such service within this state. 62
(g) "Electric utility" means any retail supplier of 63
electricity whose rates are fixed by the commission, and shall not 64
include any electric cooperative or municipal electric utility. 65
(h) "Subscriber" means a retail customer of an electric 66
utility that owns one (1) or more subscriptions of a community 67
solar facility. 68
SECTION 3. (1) On or before January 1, 2028, the commission 69
shall establish a program that affords customers the opportunity 70
to participate in community solar projects and which shall 71
reasonably allow for the creation, financing and accessibility of 72
community solar facilities. Under such program: 73
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(a) Electric utilities shall provide bill credits to 74
subscribers derived from the utility's total aggregate retail rate 75
on a per-customer-class basis, less commission approved 76
distribution cost components. 77
(b) Excess credits on a subscriber's bill shall roll 78
over from month to month until the end of each calendar year and 79
any such excess credits shall automatically be applied to the next 80
electric bill of a subscriber when the subscriber's subscription 81
is terminated for any reason. 82
(c) Electric utilities shall provide to community solar 83
organizations a web-based hosting capacity tool to indicate where 84
and how much available capacity exists on the distribution system, 85
updated on at least a semiannual basis. 86
(d) Electric utilities may impose fees on community 87
solar organizations which fees, if any, shall be: 88
(i) Just, reasonable and nondiscriminatory; 89
(ii) Based on the actual cost of providing the 90
service for which the fee is imposed; 91
(iii) Approved by the commission after public 92
notice, a public hearing and an opportunity for public comment; 93
and 94
(iv) Not more than one percent (1%) of the bill 95
credit value accrued from such organization's subscriptions during 96
the term for which the fee is imposed, unless found by the 97
commission to be necessary to the public interest. 98
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(e) Electric utilities may, notwithstanding any other 99
provision of law, enter into a long-term purchase agreement with a 100
community solar organization. 101
(2) The commission may establish rules and regulations that 102
provide for the protection of customers that have subscriptions 103
with or are prospective subscribers of a community solar facility. 104
Such rules and regulations may relate to the totality of the 105
subscription and the bill crediting process, including requiring 106
standardized customer disclosure forms that identify key 107
information that shall be provided by community solar 108
organizations to potential subscribers. 109
SECTION 4. A community solar organization: 110
(a) May sell subscriptions at a rate that shall result 111
in bill savings for the subscriber, provided that such 112
subscriptions shall be sized such that the estimated credits do 113
not exceed ninety percent (90%) of the subscriber's average or 114
expected annual bill for the customer account to which the 115
subscription is attributed; 116
(b) Shall not require credit checks or up-front, 117
sign-on or exit fees to purchase, transfer or terminate a 118
subscription; 119
(c) Shall provide the electric utility with information 120
necessary to allocate bill credits to each subscriber; 121
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(d) May bank unsubscribed energy for no more than 122
twenty-four (24) months, at which point such energy shall be 123
purchased by the electric utility at avoided cost; 124
(e) May transfer or retire on behalf of subscribers the 125
renewable energy credits produced by its community solar 126
facilities; and 127
(f) Shall be subject to the rules and regulations 128
adopted by the commission pursuant to this act, provided that the 129
sale or transfer of subscriptions shall not be considered the 130
provision of electric service to the public, retail electric 131
service or retail supply of electricity and neither the subscriber 132
nor the community solar organization shall be considered an 133
electric supplier or in violation of exclusive electric service 134
rights arising therein. 135
SECTION 5. (1) On and after July 1, 2026, an electric 136
utility shall accept interconnection applications for community 137
solar facilities on a nondiscriminatory basis and study the impact 138
of interconnecting such facilities to the grid using the current 139
commission approved interconnection rules, regulations, standards 140
and tariffs and in accordance with best practices. 141
(2) On or before January 1, 2027, the commission shall 142
establish an Interconnection Study Group between electric 143
utilities and stakeholders with oversight from commission staff. 144
The Interconnection Study Group shall review and recommend changes 145
or adoption of any policies, processes, rules, regulations, 146
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standards and tariffs associated with the interconnection of 147
community solar facilities with the goal of transparency, accuracy 148
and efficiency to support the achievement of the objectives in 149
this act. The Interconnection Study Group shall report its 150
findings and recommendations to the commission on or before July 151
1, 2027. The commission shall review the findings of the 152
Interconnection Study Group and take any action that the 153
commission deems necessary. 154
(3) On or before October 1, 2027, each electric utility 155
shall submit for commission review and approval a standard 156
interconnection agreement for community solar facilities that 157
meets the following requirements: 158
(a) An electric utility may recover any direct costs 159
associated with interconnecting and administering metering 160
services as approved by the commission. Any fees imposed shall 161
be: 162
(i) Just, reasonable and nondiscriminatory; 163
(ii) Based on the actual cost of providing the 164
service for which the fee is imposed; and 165
(iii) Approved by the commission after a public 166
notice, a public hearing and an opportunity for public comment; 167
(b) A community solar facility shall include, at the 168
interconnection applicant's own expense, all equipment necessary 169
to meet applicable safety, power quality and interconnection 170
requirements established by the National Electrical Code, National 171
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Electrical Safety Code, Institute of Electrical and Electronics 172
Engineers, and Underwriters Laboratories; 173
(c) An electric utility shall not require an 174
interconnection applicant whose community solar facility meets the 175
standards in paragraph (b) of this section to comply with 176
additional safety or performance standards, perform or pay for 177
additional tests or purchase additional liability insurance; and 178
(d) No electric utility shall be liable to any person, 179
directly or indirectly, for any loss of property, injury or death 180
that may result from the interconnection of a community solar 181
facility. 182
SECTION 6. On or before January 1, 2028, each electric 183
utility shall file for commission review a data access program. 184
Such data access program shall be designed to better enable 185
customers' investments in or subscriptions to conservation and 186
clean energy technologies, including, but not limited to, 187
photovoltaic solar, energy efficiency technologies, battery 188
storage, smart thermostats and electric vehicles. Following 189
public notice and an opportunity for public comment, the 190
commission shall adopt or amend such proposed program, which the 191
electric utility shall make available to customers within nine (9) 192
months of the commission's final order. An electric utility's 193
data access program shall conform to the following requirements: 194
(a) As part of basic utility service, an electric 195
utility shall provide meter usage data in electronic 196
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ST: Solar farms; allow local communities to
join resources for.
machine-readable form, without additional charge, to the customer 197
or to any third-party recipient to whom the customer has 198
authorized disclosure of the customer's meter usage data. Such 199
access shall conform to nationally recognized open standards and 200
best practice and shall be provided in fifteen (15) minute 201
intervals or the shortest interval available through existing 202
meters; 203
(b) An electric utility shall maintain and provide at 204
least twenty-four (24) months of meter usage data or the period of 205
time that a customer has had an account at a given address, 206
whichever is less; and 207
(c) If the requests are made for more information other 208
than meter usage data or data older than twenty-four (24) months 209
preceding the request, the electric utility may charge customers a 210
reasonable fee to provide such data that is established by the 211
commission based on the electric utility's marginal cost to 212
provide such data. 213
SECTION 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from 214
and after July 1, 2026. 215