{"id":510,"date":"2016-04-11T18:49:07","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T22:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/solarenergylocal.com\/news\/?p=510"},"modified":"2016-04-12T11:29:10","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T15:29:10","slug":"massachusetts-has-a-new-net-metering-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/massachusetts-has-a-new-net-metering-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts has a new net metering law for solar customers"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Governor signs new solar bill, removing cap, lowering net metering rates<\/h2>\n<p>Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed new comprehensive legislation into law today, bringing multiple changes to solar energy in the state.<\/p>\n<p>As with most bills, there is some good mixed in and some bad mixed in &#8212; and the good and bad differs depending on whom you ask. The legislation largely deals with how net metering is handled within the state.<\/p>\n<blockquote><strong>Net metering<\/strong> is system in which owners of residential (usually rooftop) solar installations are compensated by state utilities for unused electrical power generated by their solar arrays. Currently, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.seia.org\/policy\/distributed-solar\/net-metering\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"at least 43 U.S. states have net metering\" target=\"_blank\">at least 43 U.S. states have net metering<\/a> in place in some capacity.<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Governor Charlie Baker Signs Comprehensive <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Solar?src=hash\">#Solar<\/a> Legislation into Law <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CleanEnergy?src=hash\">#CleanEnergy<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BwsfZnTxAR\">https:\/\/t.co\/BwsfZnTxAR<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KPSd72vJa3\">pic.twitter.com\/KPSd72vJa3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Charlie Baker (@MassGovernor) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MassGovernor\/status\/719556092087427072\">April 11, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Net metering cap lifted<\/h3>\n<p>The legislation signed today effectively lifts a solar net metering cap that halted net metering in the state about a year ago. The net metering cap is now raised 3 percent for public and private projects, which should allow new solar projects to run without issue until at least 2017.<\/p>\n<h3>Net metering rates lowered<\/h3>\n<p>A reduction of the net metering reimbursement rate was also part of the legislation. The reduction is about 40 percent &#8212; rates paid on new projects will be paid at 60 percent of the full retail rate, instead of the previously set full retail rate. <\/p>\n<p>This applies to new projects, as most existing installations will be grandfathered in at the full retail rate.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;This legislation builds upon the continued success of the Commonwealth&#8217;s solar industry and ensures a viable, sustainable and affordable solar market at a lower cost to ratepayers.&#8221; &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/governor\/press-office\/press-releases\/fy2016\/governor-signs-comprehensive-solar-legislation-into-law.html\" title=\"Governor Charlie Baker\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Governor Charlie Baker<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<span class=\"source-attribution\">Orginally published on &rarr; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.e-wisdom.com\/news\/new-net-metering-law-signed-in-massachusetts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">E-Wisdom<\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The legislation signed in Massachusetts this week effectively lifts a solar net metering cap that halted net metering in the state about a year ago. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":511,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[42,40,3,6],"class_list":["post-510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solar","tag-massachusetts","tag-net-metering","tag-solar-energy","tag-solar-power"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions\/513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarenergylocal.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}