PSC OK's customers selling excess power

BY JOHN DORSCHNER

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State regulators Tuesday morning approved a rule that will allow customers to sell excess power back to utilities.

The Public Service Commission ratified its December decision on a rule addressing net metering, which allows homes and businesses that produce power from alternative sources, such as solar panels, to sell their excess power back to the utilities.

The change in the rule expands the size of systems, from 10 kilowatts to two megawatts. It also expands the type of systems eligible, from only photovoltaic to all renewable sources.

''This rule is expected to increase the development of renewable generation in Florida, which will enhance fuel diversity and reliability,'' PSC Chairman Matthew M. Carter II said in a prepared statement. ``Customer-owned renewable generation also effectively acts as a conservation measure by reducing the amount of electricity purchased from utilities.''

Several bills in the House and Senate were introduced urging or demanding that the PSC implement net metering, but the regulators acted before any of them could be passed into law.

The following is a link to the Net Metering and Interconnection Standard as ratified by the Florida Public Service Commission on March 4, 2008.