70-2002. Terms, defined.

For purposes of sections 70-2001 to 70-2005:

(1) Customer-generator means an end-use electricity customer that generates electricity on the customer's side of the meter from a qualified facility;

(2) Interconnection agreement means an agreement between a local distribution utility and a customer-generator that establishes the financial, interconnection, safety, performance, and reliability requirements relating to the installation and operation of a qualified facility in accordance with the standards prescribed in sections 70-2001 to 70-2005;

(3) Local distribution system means the equipment and facilities used for the distribution of electric energy to the end-use electricity customer;

(4) Local distribution utility means the owner or operator of the local distribution system;

(5) Net excess generation means the net amount of energy, if any, by which the output of a qualified facility exceeds a customer-generator's total electricity requirements during a billing period;

(6) Net metering means a system of metering electricity in which a local distribution utility:

(a) Credits a customer-generator at the applicable retail rate for each kilowatt-hour produced by a qualified facility during a billing period up to the total of the customer-generator's electricity requirements during that billing period. A customer-generator may be charged a minimum monthly fee that is the same as other noncustomer-generators in the same rate class but shall not be charged any additional standby, capacity, demand, interconnection, or other fee or charge; and

(b) Compensates the customer-generator for net excess generation during the billing period at a rate equal to the local distribution utility's avoided cost of electric supply over the billing period. The monetary credits shall be applied to the bills of the customer-generator for the preceding billing period and shall offset the cost of energy owed by the customer-generator. If the energy portion of the customer-generator's bill is less than zero in any month, monetary credits shall be carried over to future bills of the customer-generator until the balance is zero. At the end of each annualized period, any excess monetary credits shall be paid out to coincide with the final bill of that period; and

(7) Qualified facility means a facility for the production of electrical energy that:

(a) Uses as its energy source either methane, wind, solar resources, biomass, hydropower resources, or geothermal resources;

(b) Is controlled by the customer-generator and is located on premises owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by the customer-generator;

(c) Interconnects and operates in parallel with the local distribution system;

(d) Is intended to meet or offset the customer-generator's requirements for electricity;

(e) Is not intended to offset or provide credits for electricity consumption at another location owned, operated, leased, or otherwise controlled by the customer-generator or for any other customer;

(f) Has a rated capacity at or below twenty-five kilowatts;

(g) Meets all applicable safety, performance, interconnection, and reliability standards established by the National Electrical Code filed with the Secretary of State and adopted by the State Electrical Board under subdivision (5) of section 81-2104, the National Electrical Safety Code, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.; and

(h) Is equipped to automatically isolate the qualified facility from the electrical system in the event of an electrical power outage or other conditions where the line is de-energized.

Source