Description

In April 2000, Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), an investor-owned utility serving Chicago and surrounding areas, established a net-metering program for photovoltaic (PV) and wind-energy systems up to 40 kW. The program is available to all customer classes. The total installed capacity of all net-metered systems is limited to 0.1% of the utility’s annual peak demand. ComEd installs a special dual-register meter for net-metered systems.

ComEd pays customer-generators, on a monthly basis, the utility’s avoided costs for any net excess generation (NEG). In addition, in order to simulate the economics of net metering, ComEd makes an additional annual payment for the customer’s total excess power added to ComEd’s system during the year (up to the amount of power the customer took from ComEd during the year). Customers are paid at a rate representing the difference between the average avoided cost paid to the customer for NEG and the average retail rate paid by the customer for retail purchases during the year.