Bill > H681

This bill, the NC Energy Ratepayers Protection Act, aims to modify North Carolina's energy policies by broadening the definition of renewable resources for small power producers to include a wider range of biomass and other sustainable sources, and by clarifying that utilities must consider the entire spectrum of generation, including renewables, and demand-side options when planning and setting rates to achieve the least cost mix of energy supply and demand reduction. It also adjusts the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS) requirements, allowing utilities to meet a larger portion of their obligations through energy efficiency measures and modifying the compliance schedules for various renewable energy sources like solar, swine waste, and poultry waste, while also repealing the property tax exclusion for solar energy systems. Furthermore, the bill mandates a comprehensive study on the costs and benefits of distributed generation, particularly solar, to inform future policy decisions, and includes provisions for recovering certain pre-existing costs incurred by utilities for REPS compliance.