CHEC agrees that Community…

CHEC agrees that Community Net Metering is a worthwhile objective and supports the idea of demonstration projects.

Net metering is very complicated from a pricing perspective. While the idea of it being equal and offsetting to volumetric rates makes sense, is neutral and has an aesthetic appeal, it is very complicated in practice to implement and is difficult to explain to customers. We recommend a standard rate be set by the OEB for all net metering, including Community, Net Metering at the same time as the RPP rates are set. This would also be more in line with net metering pricing in the USA.

It will be very difficult and cumbersome to settle Community Net Metering across LDCs. We recommend Community Net Metering be restricted to within the same municipalities and served by the same LDC.

The allocation of the generation needs to be kept as simple as possible to avoid creating unnecessary costs that must be charged to the net metering project. The proposal makes reference to transferrable generation credits. We recommend a percentage allocation of credits be set for all the participants. This can be reset once a year and any credit transfers can take place once a year at the same time.

While single unit Net Metering currently exists in the NorthStar CIS system, Community Net Metering will require system changes and testing. It needs to be determined, upfront, how these costs will be recovered.

If you have any questions on the above, or would like further information, please reach out to me at akaramatic@checenergy.ca.

Thank you for taking these comments into consideration for this Net Metering process.