Summary
Eligibility and Availability
The Commonwealth Utility Corporation (CUC), the only public utility in the N. Marianas, is required to offer net metering to its commercial and residential retail electricity customers for renewable energy systems up to 100 kilowatts (kW). Net metering was recently prioritized for the public health and education sectors through Public Law 18 - 75.
Renewables include: electrical energy produced by wind, solar energy, hydro power, landfill gas, waste to energy, geothermal resources, ocean thermal energy conversion, ocean wave or current energy, biomass, including municipal solid waste, bio fuels, or fuels derived from organic sources (other than coal, oil or gas), hydrogen fuels derived from renewable energy, or fuel cells where the fuel is derived from renewable sources.
According to Public Law 15-23 CUC was within its right to issue a moratorium on net metering: "CUC may impose a moratorium on providing new service to customers or upgrading service to existing customers, if CUC determines that such new service would overburden the existing distribution or generation capacity." However, Public Law 18-62 states that CUC must "authorize and implement" net metering service for all residential customers despite any CUC moratorium or regulation.
Net Excess Generation
For a net electricity producer, CUC is not entitled to ordinarily pay the customer monthly, it may use the customer’s excess electricity generated during the monthly billing period. If the eligible customer-generator has for a 12-month period, generated a net excess of electricity, CUC can buy the excess at 50% of the rate applicable to the net energy metering calculation, or for such higher rate to which the customer and CUC have agreed in a purchase agreement for excess electricity production. CUC will pay the customer within the next billing month.
Meter Aggregation Provisions
The aggregate capacity limit of all net-metered systems on the island of Saipan, Tinian, or Rota, cannot independently exceed 30% of CUC's system peak demand.