Senate Bill 203
By: Senators Anavitarte of the 31st, Robertson of the 29th, Hufstetler of the 52nd, Williams
of the 25th, Halpern of the 39th and others
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Chapter 3 of Title 46 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
electrical service, so as to enact the "Georgia Homegrown Solar Act of 2025"; to provide
definitions; to allow customers of an electric utility to aggregate demand from multiple
locations and subscribe to certain off-site solar facilities; to provide for nondiscriminatory
interconnection of such facilities; to provide for consumer protections for customers; to allow
customers to access their own meter usage and provide such usage data to authorized third
parties; to provide legislative findings; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective
date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 3 of Title 46 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to electrical service,
is amended by adding a new part to Article 1, relating to generation and distribution of
electricity generally, and amending Article 2, which is reserved, as follows:
<ins>"Part 6
46-3-80.
This part shall be known and may be cited as the 'Georgia Homegrown Solar Act of 2025.'
46-3-81.
The General Assembly finds that it is in the public interest to:
(1) Continue to encourage private investment in solar resources in the service territory
of Georgia's largest electric utility;
(2) Stimulate economic growth and job creation in this state;
(3) Promote energy resilience; and
(4) Enable customers in this state to access solar technologies that help them manage
their electric bills.
46-3-82.
As used in this part, the term:
(1) 'Avoided cost' means the incremental cost to an electric utility which, but for the
provision of energy and capacity from a solar technology, such electric utility would
incur to generate or procure electricity from another source.
(2) 'Bill credit' means the monetary value of kilowatt hours generated by a community
solar facility allocated to a subscriber's electricity bill pursuant to the community solar
program created by the commission and subject to commission jurisdiction as described
in this part.
(3) 'Community solar facility' means a system that:
(A) Generates electric energy that is fueled solely by ambient sunlight and is connected
to the electric utility's distribution system;
(B) Is located within the same electric service territory as the customers it serves;
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<ins>(C) Has no subscribers that own a subscription for more than 40 percent of such
facility's output;
(D) Is not selling its energy outside of the community solar program; and
(E)(i) Except as provided in division (ii) of this subparagraph, is not located on the
same parcel as another system that meets the requirements of subparagraphs (A)
through (D) of this paragraph if the total capacity of the systems would exceed 5
megawatts alternating current; provided, however, that such parcel shall not have
been subdivided in order to meet such requirements.
(ii) The requirements of division (i) of this subparagraph shall not apply to an
aggregate of multiple systems that together do not exceed 5 megawatts alternating
current if such systems are located on the rooftops of buildings, on brownfield
properties, as such term is defined in Code Section 48-5-7.6, deemed to be in
compliance with risk reduction standards, on landfills, or over parking lots or
roadways.
(4) 'Community solar organization' means any for profit or nonprofit entity that owns,
operates, or manages subscriptions for one or more community solar facilities.
(5) 'Electric utility' means any retail supplier of electricity whose rates are fixed by the
commission, and shall not include any electric membership corporation or municipal
electric utility.
(6) 'Subscriber' means a retail customer of an electric utility that owns one or more
subscriptions of a community solar facility.
46-3-83.
A community solar organization:
(1) 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
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<ins>do not exceed 90 percent of the subscriber's average or expected annual bill for the
customer account to which the subscription is attributed;
(2) Shall not require credit checks or up-front, sign-on, or exit fees to purchase, transfer
or terminate a subscription;
(3) Shall provide the electric utility with information necessary to allocate bill credits to
each subscriber;
(4) May bank unsubscribed energy for no more than 24 months at which point such
energy shall be purchased by the electric utility at avoided cost;
(5) May transfer or retire on behalf of subscribers the renewable energy credits produced
by its community solar facilities; and
(6) Shall be subject to the rules and regulations adopted by the commission pursuant to
this part; provided, however, that the sale or transfer of subscriptions shall not be
considered the provision of electric service to the public, retail electric service, or retail
supply of electricity and neither the subscriber nor the community solar organization shall
be considered an electric supplier within the meaning of Part 1 of this article or in
violation of exclusive electric service rights arising therein.
46-3-84.
(a) On or before January 1, 2027, the commission shall establish a program that affords
customers the opportunity to participate in community solar projects and which shall
reasonably allow for the creation, financing, and accessibility of community solar facilities.
Under such program:
(1) Electric utilities shall provide bill credits to subscribers derived from the utility's total
aggregate retail rate on a per-customer-class basis, less commission approved distribution
cost components;
(2) Excess credits on a subscriber's bill shall role over from month to month until the end
of each calendar year and any such excess credits shall automatically be applied to the
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<ins>next electric bill of a subscriber when the subscriber's subscription is terminated for any
reason;
(3) Electric utilities shall provide to community solar organizations a web based hosting
capacity tool to indicate where and how much available capacity exists on the distribution
system, updated on at least a semiannual basis;
(4) Electric utilities may impose fees on community solar organizations which fees, if
any, shall be:
(A) Just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory;
(B) Based on the actual cost of providing the service for which the fee is imposed;
(C) Approved by the commission after public notice, a public hearing, and an
opportunity for public comment; and
(D) Not more than 1 percent of the bill credit value accrued from such organization's
subscriptions during the term for which the fee is imposed, unless found by the
commission to be necessary to protect the public interest; and
(5) Electric utilities may, notwithstanding the provisions of Code Section 46-3A-3, enter
into a long-term purchase agreement with a community solar organization.
(b) The commission may establish rules and regulations that provide for the protection of
customers that have subscriptions with or are prospective subscribers of a community solar
facility. Such rules and regulations may relate to the totality of the subscription and the bill
crediting process, including requiring standardized customer disclosure forms that identify
key information that shall be provided by community solar organizations to potential
subscribers.
46-3-85.
(a) On and after July 1, 2025, an electric utility shall accept interconnection applications
for community solar facilities on a nondiscriminatory basis and study the impact of
interconnecting such facilities to the grid using the current commission approved
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<ins>interconnection rules, regulations, standards, and tariffs and in accordance with best
practices.
(b) On or before January 1, 2026, the commission shall establish an Interconnection
Working Group between electric utilities and stakeholders with oversight from commission
staff. The Interconnection Working Group shall review and recommend changes or
adoption of any policies, processes, rules, regulations, standards, and tariffs associated with
the interconnection of community solar facilities with the goal of transparency, accuracy,
and efficiency to support the achievement of the objectives in this part. The
Interconnection Working Group shall report its findings and recommendations to the
commission on or before July 1, 2026. The commission shall review the findings and
recommendations of the Interconnection Working Group and take any action that the
commission deems necessary.
(c) On or before October 1, 2026, each electric utility shall submit for commission review
and approval a standard interconnection agreement for community solar facilities that
meets the following requirements:
(1) An electric utility may recover any direct costs associated with interconnecting and
administering metering services as approved by the commission. Any fees imposed shall
be:
(A) Just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory;
(B) Based on the actual cost of providing the service for which the fee is imposed; and
(C) Approved by the commission after public notice, a public hearing, and an
opportunity for public comment;
(2) A community solar facility shall include, at the interconnection applicant's own
expense, all equipment necessary to meet applicable safety, power quality, and
interconnection requirements established by the National Electrical Code, National
Electrical Safety Code, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and
Underwriters Laboratories;
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<ins>(3) An electric utility shall not require an interconnection applicant whose community
solar facility meets the standards in paragraph (2) of this subsection to comply with
additional safety or performance standards, perform or pay for additional tests, or
purchase additional liability insurance; and
(4) No electric utility shall be liable to any person, directly or indirectly, for any loss of
property, injury, or death that may result from the interconnection of a community solar
facility.
46-3-86.
On or before January 1, 2027, each electric utility shall file for commission review a data
access program. Such data access program shall be designed to better enable customers'
investments in or subscriptions to conservation and clean energy technologies, including,
but not limited to, photovoltaic solar, energy efficiency technologies, battery storage, smart
thermostats, and electric vehicles. Following public notice and an opportunity for public
comment, the commission shall adopt or amend such proposed program, which the electric
utility shall make available to customers within nine months of the commission's final
order. An electric utility's data access program shall conform to the following
requirements:
(1) As part of basic utility service, 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 of the customer's
meter usage data. Such access shall conform to nationally recognized open standards and
best practices and shall be provided in 15 minute intervals or the shortest interval
available through existing meters;
(2) An electric utility shall maintain and provide at least 24 months of meter usage data
or the period of time that a customer has had an account at a given address, whichever is
less; and
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<ins>(3) If requests are made for information other than meter usage data or data older than
24 months preceding the request, the electric utility may charge customers a reasonable
fee to provide such data that is established by the commission based on the electric
utility's marginal cost to provide such data.
</ins> ARTICLE 2
<del>46-3-70.</del> <ins>46-3-90.
</ins> Reserved."
SECTION 2.
This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2025.
SECTION 3.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.