HB507: HB507 Georgia Homegrown Solar Act of 2025; enact

Right now, Georgians served by the state's largest electric utility generally cannot buy into shared, off-site solar projects and get a direct credit on their bill. House Bill 507, called the Georgia Homegrown Solar Act of 2025, would direct the Public Service Commission to set up a community solar program by January 1, 2027, allowing customers to subscribe to 'community solar facilities' and receive monthly bill credits based on their share of the electricity produced. The bill defines key terms like community solar facility and subscriber, caps how much of a facility any one subscriber can own, and bars sign-up or exit fees and credit checks. It also requires electric utilities to accept solar interconnection requests fairly, sets up an Interconnection Working Group to recommend technical rules by mid-2026, and requires utilities to give customers electronic access to their own meter usage data. The law would take effect July 1, 2025.

• Creates a new legal framework (O.C.G.A. Chapter 3, Title 46) requiring the Public Service Commission to establish a community solar subscription program by January 1, 2027.
• Lets customers of Georgia's largest electric utility subscribe to shared, off-site solar facilities and receive monthly bill credits for their share of the power produced.
• Bans community solar organizations from charging credit check fees, sign-on fees, or exit fees to subscribers.
• Requires electric utilities to accept and study interconnection requests for community solar facilities on a nondiscriminatory basis starting July 1, 2025.
• Creates an Interconnection Working Group to recommend technical rules for connecting solar facilities to the grid, due to report by July 1, 2026.
• Requires utilities to give customers free electronic access to their own electric meter usage data and let them share it with approved third parties.

Customers of Georgia's largest electric utility (commonly understood to mean Georgia Power, since electric membership corporations and municipal utilities are excluded), community solar companies that build and manage shared solar projects, the Public Service Commission, which must write new rules, and electric utilities that must handle interconnections, fees, and data requests.

Customers who cannot put solar panels on their own roof, such as renters or people with shaded properties, could subscribe to a shared solar project and see savings on their electric bill. Utilities would face new deadlines to connect solar projects to the grid and share customer usage data.

• Section 46-3-82 defines 'community solar facility,' capping any single subscriber's ownership at 40 percent and limiting most facilities to 5 megawatts unless located on rooftops, brownfields, landfills, or over parking lots.
• Section 46-3-83 requires subscriptions to produce real bill savings, capped at 90 percent of a subscriber's average annual bill, and bans credit checks and sign-up or exit fees.
• Section 46-3-84 requires the commission to create the community solar program by January 1, 2027, including bill-crediting rules and utility fees on community solar organizations capped at 1 percent of bill credit value.
• Section 46-3-85 requires nondiscriminatory interconnection review starting July 1, 2025, and creates an Interconnection Working Group to report recommendations to the commission by July 1, 2026.
• Section 46-3-85 also bars utilities from holding interconnected community solar facilities liable for property loss, injury, or death from interconnection.
• Section 46-3-86 requires utilities to file a data access program by January 1, 2027, giving customers free electronic access to their meter usage data in 15-minute intervals.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as July 1, 2025.

1. 2025-02-20House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-19House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-18House Hopper (House)

• Beth Camp (R, HD-135)Primary sponsor
• Alan Powell (R, HD-033)
• Ron Stephens (R, HD-164)
• Karla Drenner (D, HD-085)
• Eric Gisler (D, HD-121)

• community solar
• renewable energy
• utility regulation
• electric bills
• solar power