The end of Ontario’s FIT Program appears to be in sight. The provincial government is proposing changes to current net metering rules that make the self-consumption program more palatable to home and business owners, while also facilitating the deployment of energy storage.

A key element of the plan is that customers will still be credited for their electricity generation at the same rate as they are charged for electricity consumption.

Proposed changes include the extension of the credit period from 11 to 12 months, allowing multiple home or business owners to share net metering credits between locations (referred to as Single Entity Virtual Net Metering) and encourage the use of energy storage with renewable generation.

Unveiled last week, the proposed changes also include a provision to expand eligibility to systems larger than 500 kW. This, says the notice posted on Ontario’s Environmental Registry last week, is to enable larger customers “to right-size renewable energy systems to their load.”

Because these larger customers tend to self-consume a higher proportion of generated electricity during the day, aligning the objective to match generation to local demand “can help reduce local load and related infrastructure needs. The requirement that the generator must generate power primarily for their own use and the proposed 12-month credit reset period will encourage right-sizing for all customers,” reads the notice.

For energy storage, the notice specifically states that “storage and remittance of electricity from the electricity distribution system and from a renewable energy system would be permitted.”

The Single Entity Virtual Net Metering - essentially the ability to transfer electricity credits between multiple accounts held by the same person or business - comes with caveats. Its billing method would be limited to meters located within the same electricity distributor territory and within a maximum distance of a 3 kilometre radius.

The proposed net metering rules would also allow existing net metering customers to enter into new agreements before the updated provisions come into force.

In proposing the new rules, the Ontario Ministry of Energy considered a number of factors, including best practices from other jurisdictions, feedback from previous public consultations and input from a working group of industry participants, the Ontario Energy Board and the Independent Electricity System Operator. It also took into account cost trajectories for electricity prices and solar PV prices.

Ontario’s climate targets (2016-2020 Climate Change Action Plan - CCAP) were also factored into the proposed rules, particularly as it relates to the potential to increase the number of near net-zero and net-zero homes and buildings in the province through net metering agreements.

Comments on the proposed net metering rules are due October 3.

The Ministry of Energy is also going to consult later this fall on two other initiatives related to net metering. They include: the eligibility of third-party companies to own and operate renewable energy systems and sell power to net metered customers; and a community net metering program where credit transfers from a shared generation facility to the billing accounts of multiple entities would be allowed.

Canadian Green Tech will have more on the potential net metering changes in the coming days.