The Mississippi Public Service Commission is getting ready to present its updated net metering rule for public comment.
Central District Commissioner Brent Bailey said Tuesday at the PSC’s monthly meeting that the new rule should be ready by the next meeting in December. It will have a 45-day comment period before the board will conduct a hearing and can vote to make it official.
Net metering is the practice by which ratepayers with rooftop solar or other renewable generation capacity at their home or business can sell back their surplus generation to the grid in the form of bill credits.
The commission also issued an order in the docket concerning long-range planning for Entergy. The commission mandated that Entergy begin including loss of load expectancy into its quarterly reporting to the PSC. This measures the number of hours when Entergy’s grid might not be able to meet consumer demand.
Entergy will also consider requests for procurement beyond its target of 100 megawatts of solar generation capacity. The company will also have to reorganize its reports so that readers can find pertinent and altered information as compared to the last report. The utility will also have to inform intervenors (stakeholders who once approved to participate can offer testimony and filings in a docket) of new documents filed in the docket. It will also have to provide advance notice of public workshops technical filings related to the long-term planning process.
Both of the state’s investor-owned utilities are required by PSC orders to submit the reports, known as integrated resource plans, since 2019.
The PSC unanimously approved an $18.2 million project for Mississippi Power to improve its transmission infrastructure in George County.
The project would involve rebuilding and reconductoring 17.8 miles of 115-volt transmission line and procurement of 71 new wood poles to carry the line. The company said in its filing that the project would allow the company to provide reliable service to its customers and continue to comply with the reliability standards of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a non-profit that sets standards for utility reliability.
The PSC also approved an extension of the ability of Spire Mississippi, a Hattiesburg-based natural gas utility, to continue to charge existing customers for proposed capital projects designed to extend gas service for industrial projects not otherwise economically feasible for the company to support. The rider was approved in 2015 and allows Spire to invest up to $5 million for new infrastructure. Any amount over $5 million would require commission approval. The order extends the rider until October 2024.
