On December 23, 2015, the New York Public Service Commission (“NYPSC”) issued a notice soliciting comments and proposals on an interim successor to net energy metering. The order also established a preliminary conference on January 7, 2016 to discuss the matter. The NYPSC’s notice was issued in accordance with prior NYPSC orders directing the establishment of a methodology for valuing distributed energy resources (“DER”). The notice indicates that the NYPSC is seeking to establish a new methodology and process for determining the full value of DER prior to December 31, 2016.

The NYPSC’s notice indicates that the immediate goal is to address two, closely-related issues: (1) identifying for the NYPSC an interim approach to valuing DER that includes a transition plan for moving from net metering to DER valuation and that can be adopted prior to December 31, 2016; and (2) establishing a methodology and process for determining the full value of DER for the larger purposes of developing DER compensation mechanisms using the NYPSC’s previously-approved approach of location-based marginal price of energy plus full value of distribution-level resources (referred to as “LMP + D”).

The notice also contains twenty questions posed to potentially-interested parties on which the NYPSC seeks additional input and comment. The notice establishes April 18, 2016 as the deadline for responses and comments on the identified issues, and notes that additional conferences will likely be held prior to the comment deadline.

A copy of the NYPSC’s notice can be found here.