Connecticut HB 5471: AN ACT CONCERNING COMMUNITY RENEWABLE GENERATION SOURCES AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS.

Bill Text

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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5471
February Session, 2026 LCO No. 2493

Referred to Committee on ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY

Introduced by:
(ET)

AN ACT CONCERNING COMMUNITY RENEWABLE GENERATION
SOURCES AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2026) (a) As used in this section 1
and section 2 of this act: 2
(1) "Authority" means the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority; 3
(2) "Baseline annual usage" means (A) a subscriber's accumulated 4
electricity use in kilowatt–hours for the twelve months immediately 5
preceding the subscriber's most recent subscription, or (B) for a 6
subscriber that does not have a record of twelve months of electricity 7
use at the time of the subscriber's most recent subscription, an estimate 8
of the subscriber's accumulated twelve months of electricity use in 9
kilowatt–hours, determined in a manner approved by the authority; 10
(3) "Certificates" means certificates issued by the New England Power 11
Pool Generation Information System; 12
(4) "Class I renewable energy source" has the same meaning as 13

Raised Bill No. 5471

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provided in section 16-1 of the general statutes; 14
(5) "Community renewable energy generating system" means a solar 15
photovoltaic electricity generating system, or an energy storage system, 16
including an energy storage system connected to a solar photovoltaic 17
electricity generating system, that either (A) stores energy generated by 18
a Class I renewable energy source, or (B) purchases and retires 19
certificates produced by a wind or solar electricity generating source 20
located in the United States in an amount equivalent to all energy 21
dispatched by such energy storage system that (i) is located in the state 22
or in the territory of the regional independent system operator, (ii) is 23
connected to the electric meter of a subscriber or is a separate facility, 24
(iii) credits its generated or discharged electricity, or the value of its 25
generated or discharged electricity, to the bills of the subscribers 26
through virtual net energy metering, (iv) has at least two subscribers, 27
(v) does not have individual subscriptions constituting more than sixty 28
per cent of its subscriptions, and (vi) may be owned by any person or 29
entity that is not an electric distribution company; 30
(6) "Electric distribution company" has the same meaning as 31
provided in section 16-1 of the general statutes; 32
(7) "Electric supplier" has the same meaning as provided in section 33
16-1 of the general statutes; 34
(8) "Energy storage system" has the same meaning as provided in 35
section 16-1 of the general statutes; 36
(9) "Program" means the community renewable energy generating 37
system program; 38
(10) "Regional independent system operator" has the same meaning 39
as provided in section 16-1 of the general statutes; 40
(11) "Retail rate" means eighty per cent of the total cost per kilowatt-41
hour paid by an electric customer, based on such customer's rate class. 42

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"Retail rate" includes, but is not limited to, charges for generation, 43
transmission and distribution of electricity and other applicable 44
economic costs; 45
(12) "Subscriber" means a retail customer of an electric distribution 46
company that (A) holds a subscription to a community renewable 47
energy generating system, and (B) has identified one or more individual 48
electric meters or accounts to which the subscription shall be attributed; 49
(13) "Subscriber organization" means a person or entity that (A) owns 50
or operates a community renewable energy generating system, or (B) 51
markets subscriptions to potential subscribers; 52
(14) "Subscription" means the portion of the electricity generated by 53
a community renewable energy generating system that is credited to a 54
subscriber; 55
(15) "Unsubscribed energy" means any community renewable energy 56
generating system output in kilowatt–hours that is not allocated to any 57
subscriber; and 58
(16) "Virtual net energy metering" means measurement of the 59
difference between the kilowatt–hours or value of electricity that is 60
supplied by an electric distribution company and the kilowatt–hours or 61
value of electricity attributable to a subscription to a community 62
renewable energy generating system and fed into the electric grid over 63
a subscriber's billing period. 64
(b) On or before August 1, 2026, the Public Utilities Regulatory 65
Authority shall initiate a proceeding to establish a community 66
renewable energy generating system program. The authority shall issue 67
a final decision in the proceeding not later than December 1, 2026. The 68
program shall have a duration of three years commencing from the date 69
such decision is issued and shall comply with the following: 70
(1) Any electric customer, regardless of such custo