Georgia CommonsSB 203: "Georgia Homegrown Solar Act of 2025"; enact
Last action February 20, 2025 · Senate Read and Referred
Senate Bill 203 would create a statewide community solar program in Georgia, letting customers of the state's largest electric utility subscribe to off-site solar facilities and get bill credits, while setting new interconnection and data-access rules.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Introduced version, the latest LegiScan holds.
In plain language
Currently, Georgia customers generally cannot subscribe to a shared, off-site solar facility and get credit on their electric bill unless they own solar panels themselves. This bill, called the 'Georgia Homegrown Solar Act of 2025,' would add a new part to Georgia's electrical service law (O.C.G.A. Title 46, Chapter 3) allowing community solar organizations to sell subscriptions in solar facilities to retail customers of the state's investor-owned electric utility, with the resulting bill credits capped so no single subscriber can hold more than 40 percent of a facility's output. The Public Service Commission would have to set up the subscription program by January 1, 2027, create an interconnection working group by January 1, 2026, and require utilities to file a customer data access program by January 1, 2027 letting customers get their own meter usage data electronically. The law would take effect July 1, 2025, and would not apply to electric membership corporations or municipal utilities.
What the bill does
- Creates a new legal category called a 'community solar facility' and lets community solar organizations sell subscriptions to Georgia electric utility customers.
- Requires the Public Service Commission to set up a statewide community solar subscription program by January 1, 2027, including bill credit rules for subscribers.
- Caps subscription pricing so estimated credits cannot exceed 90 percent of a subscriber's average annual bill, and bans credit checks or sign-up/exit fees for subscriptions.
- Requires electric utilities to accept community solar interconnection applications on a nondiscriminatory basis starting July 1, 2025, and creates an Interconnection Working Group to recommend standard rules by July 1, 2026.
- Requires utilities to give customers free electronic access to their own meter usage data, and to share it with authorized third parties, under a data access program due by January 1, 2027.
- Limits utility liability for injury or property loss connected to community solar interconnection and restricts extra fees utilities can charge community solar organizations.
Who it affects
Customers of Georgia's largest electric utility (Georgia Power, since electric membership corporations and municipal utilities are excluded); community solar organizations and developers; the Public Service Commission, which must write new rules and programs; and utility customers who want access to their own meter data for energy efficiency or solar decisions.
Why it matters
Georgians served by the state's dominant electric utility could subscribe to shared solar projects and see savings on their bills without installing their own rooftop panels, while community solar businesses would gain a legal framework and defined interconnection process to build and sell such projects statewide.
Key provisions
- Section 46-3-82 defines a 'community solar facility' as capped at 40 percent ownership per subscriber and generally limited to 5 megawatts unless located on rooftops, brownfields, landfills, or over parking lots.
- Section 46-3-83 requires subscription pricing to produce bill savings, bans credit checks and sign-up or exit fees, and allows banking unsubscribed energy for up to 24 months before utility purchase at avoided cost.
- Section 46-3-84 directs the Commission to establish the community solar program by January 1, 2027, including bill credit calculations and fee limits (capped at 1 percent of bill credit value) for utilities charging community solar organizations.
- Section 46-3-85 requires nondiscriminatory interconnection starting July 1, 2025, creation of an Interconnection Working Group by January 1, 2026 reporting by July 1, 2026, and a standard interconnection agreement from each utility by October 1, 2026.
- Section 46-3-86 requires each electric utility to file a data access program by January 1, 2027 giving customers free electronic meter usage data in 15-minute intervals and at least 24 months of historical data.
- Section 2 sets the effective date as July 1, 2025; Section 3 repeals conflicting laws.
From the bill
“May sell subscriptions at a rate that shall result in bill savings for the subscriber; provided, however, that such subscriptions shall be sized such that the estimated credits do not exceed 90 percent of the subscriber's average or expected annual bill”
“On and after July 1, 2025, an electric utility shall accept interconnection applications for community solar facilities on a nondiscriminatory basis”
“An electric utility shall provide meter usage data in electronic machine-readable form, without additional charge, to the customer or to any third-party recipient to whom the customer has authorized disclosure”
Status timeline
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- Senate Hopper (Senate)
Sponsors
- Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)
- Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)
- Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-052)
- Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)
- Sonya Halpern (D, SD-039)
- Carden Summers (R, SD-013)
- Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)
- Ed Setzler (R, SD-037)
Topics
- community solar
- renewable energy
- electric utility regulation
- Georgia Power
- energy bill credits