Requires an electric utility to pay a net metering customer-generator for the excess kilowatt-hours generated during a billing period.

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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
Senate Bill 217
Sponsored by Senator SMITH DB (Presession filed.)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure as introduced. The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability
standards.
Digest: Makes a power company pay a person for excess power that the person makes through
net metering. (Flesch Readability Score: 60.1).
Requires an electric utility to pay a net metering customer-generator for the excess kilowatt-
hours generated during a billing period.
Removes the requirement that a customer-generator grant, but allows a customer-generator to
donate, any credit for excess kilowatt-hours generated by the customer-generator to the electric
utility’s low-income assistance program.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to the paying of net metering customer-generators for the excess kilowatt-hours generated
during a billing period; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 757.300.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1.
ORS 757.300 is amended to read:
757.300. (1) As used in this section:
(a) “Customer-generator” means a user of a net metering facility.
(b) “Electric utility” means a public utility, a people’s utility district operating under ORS
chapter 261, a municipal utility operating under ORS chapter 225 or an electric cooperative organ-
ized under ORS chapter 62.
(c) “Net metering” means measuring the difference between the electricity supplied by an elec-
tric utility and the electricity generated by a customer-generator and fed back to the electric utility
over the applicable billing period.
(d) “Net metering facility” means a facility for the production of electrical energy that:
(A) Generates electricity using:
(i) Solar power;
(ii) Wind power;
(iii) Fuel cells;
(iv) Hydroelectric power;
(v) Landfill gas;
(vi) Digester gas;
(vii) Waste;
(viii) Dedicated energy crops available on a renewable basis;
(ix) Low-emission, nontoxic biomass based on solid organic fuels from wood, forest or field resi-
dues;
(x) Geothermal energy; or
(xi) Renewable marine energy, including wave energy, wave-wind hybrid energy and tidal en-
ergy;
NOTE:Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [ italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 1787
SB 217
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(B) Is located on the customer-generator’s premises, the territorial sea as defined in ORS
196.405, or the outer continental shelf;
(C) If located on the territorial sea or the outer continental shelf, is directly interconnected to
the customer-generator’s premises;
(D) Can operate in parallel with an electric utility’s existing transmission and distribution fa-
cilities; and
(E) Is intended primarily to offset part or all of the customer-generator’s requirements for elec-
tricity.
(2) An electric utility that offers residential and commercial electric service:
(a) Shall allow net metering facilities to be interconnected using a standard meter that is ca-
pable of registering the flow of electricity in two directions.
(b) May at its own expense install one or more additional meters to monitor the flow of elec-
tricity in each direction.
(c) May not charge a customer-generator a fee or charge that would increase the customer-
generator’s minimum monthly charge to an amount greater than that of other customers in the same
rate class as the customer-generator. However, the Public Utility Commission, for a public utility,
or the governing body, for a municipal electric utility, electric cooperative or people’s utility dis-
trict, may authorize an electric utility to assess a greater fee or charge, of any type, if the electric
utility’s direct costs of interconnection and administration of the net metering outweigh the dis-
tribution system, environmental and public policy benefits of allocating such costs among the elec-
tric utility’s entire customer base. The commission may authorize a public utility to assess a greater
fee or charge under this paragraph only following notice and opportunity for public comment. The
governing body of a municipal electric utility, electric cooperative or people’s utility district may
assess a greater fee or charge under this paragraph only following notice and opportunity for com-
ment from the customers of the utility, cooperative or district.
(3)(a) For a customer-generator, an electric utility shall measure the net electricity produced or
consumed during the billing period in accordance with normal metering practices.
(b) If an electric utility supplies a customer-generator more electricity than the customer-
generator feeds back to the electric utility during a billing period, the electric utility shall charge
the customer-generator for the net electricity that the electric utility supplied.
(c) Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this subsection, if a customer-generator feeds back to
an electric utility more electricity than the electric utility supplies the customer-generator during
a billing period, the electric utility may charge the minimum monthly charge described in subsection
(2) of this section but must [ credit] pay the customer-generator for the excess kilowatt-hours gener-
ated during the billing period. An electric utility may value the excess kilowatt-hours at the avoided
cost of the utility, as determined by the commission or the appropriate governing body. An electric
utility that values the excess kilowatt-hours at the avoided cost shall bear the cost of measuring the
excess kilowatt-hours, issuing payments and billing for the excess hours. The electric utility also
shall bear the cost of providing and installing additional metering to measure the reverse flow of
electricity.
(d) [ For the billing cycle ending in March of each year, or on such other date as agreed to by the
electric utility and the customer-generator, any remaining unused kilowatt-hour credit accumulated
during the previous year shall be granted ] An electric utility may ask a customer-generator to
donate and grant any credit for excess kilowatt-hours generated during a billing period to the
electric utility for distribution to customers enrolled in the electric utility’s low-income assistance
[2]
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programs[, credited to the customer-generator or dedicated for ] or other use as determined by the
commission, for a public utility, or the governing body, for a municipal electric utility, electric co-
operative or people’s utility district, following notice and opportunity for public comment.
(4)(a) A net metering facility shall meet all applicable safety and performance standards estab-
lished in the state building code. The standards shall be consistent with the applicable standards
established by the National Electrical Code, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
and Underwriters Laboratories or other similarly accredited laboratory.
(b) Following notice and opportunity for public comment, the commission, for a public utility,
or the governing body, for a municipal electric utility, electric cooperative or people’s utility dis-
trict, may adopt additional control and testing requirements for customer-generators to protect
public safety or system reliability.
(c) An electric utility may not require a customer-generator whose net metering facility meets
the standards in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection to comply with additional safety or per-
formance standards, perform or pay for additional tests or purchase additional liability insurance.
However, an electric utility shall not be liable directly or indirectly for permitting or continuing to
allow an attachment of a net metering facility, or for the acts or omissions of the customer-
generator that cause loss or injury, including death, to any third party.
(5) Nothing in this section is intended to prevent an electric utility from offering, or a
customer-generator from accepting, products or services related to the customer-generator’s net
metering facility that are different from the net metering services described in this section.
(6) The commission, for a public utility, or the governing body, for a municipal electric utility,
electric cooperative or people’s utility district, may not limit the cumulative generating capacity of
solar, wind, geothermal, renewable marine, fuel cell and microhydroelectric net metering systems to
less than one-half of one percent of a utility’s, cooperative’s or district’s historic single-hour peak
load. After a cumulative limit of one-half of one percent has been reached, the obligation of a public
utility, municipal electric utility, electric cooperative or people’s utility district to offer net metering
to a new customer-generator may be limited by the commission or governing body in order to bal-
ance the interests of retail customers. When limiting net metering obligations under this subsection,
the commission or the governing body shall consider the environmental and other public policy
benefits of net metering systems. The commission may limit net metering obligations under this
subsection only following notice and opportunity for public comment. The governing body of a mu-
nicipal electric utility, electric cooperative or people’s utility district may limit net metering obli-
gations under this subsection only following notice and opportunity for comment from the customers
of the utility, cooperative or district.
(7) The commission or the governing body may adopt rules or ordinances to ensure that the
obligations and costs associated with net metering apply to all power suppliers within the service
territory of a public utility, municipal electric utility, electric cooperative or people’s utility district.
(8) This section applies only to net metering facilities that have a generating capacity of 25
kilowatts or less, except that the commission by rule may provide for a higher limit for customers
of a public utility.
(9) Notwithstanding subsections (2) to (8) of this section, an electric utility serving fewer than
25,000 customers in Oregon that has its headquarters located in another state and offers net me-
tering services or a substantial equivalent offset against retail sales in that state shall be deemed
to be in compliance with this section if the electric utility offers net metering services to its cus-
tomers in Oregon in accordance with tariffs, schedules and other regulations promulgated by the
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SB 217
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appropriate authority in the state where the electric utility’s headquarters are located.
SECTION 2.
The amendments to ORS 757.300 by section 1 of this 2025 Act apply to net
metering contracts entered into or renewed on or after the effective date of this 2025 Act.
[4]