Letter to Neil Chatterjee, Richard Glick, Bernard McNamee, and James Danly, Chairman and Commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission - Pingree Leads Bipartisan Letter to Dismiss New England Ratepayers Association's Net Metering Petition

Letter

Dear Chairman Chatterjee and Commissioners McNamee, Danly and Glick:
We write to urge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to dismiss the petition
from the New England Ratepayers Association (NERA) that asks FERC to assert federal
jurisdiction over state electricity programs, including net metering.
Utilities, farmers, houses of worship, municipalities, small businesses and more than two million
individual Americans participate in net metering programs in the large majority of states. State
utility commissions have spent years designing, implementing and modifying these programs,
which generally provide a credit to participants for the electricity they send to the grid. NERA's
petition constitutes a direct assault on state regulators' ability to do their jobs. The petition asks
FERC to usurp regulatory authority from the states, advancing a one-size-fits-all approach that
would upend legal precedent, create market uncertainty, and threaten energy jobs in our districts.
Congress clearly intended for states to regulate net metering programs when it amended the
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). Sections 111(d) and 112(b) explicitly require
states -- not FERC -- to consider adopting net metering programs.1 If Congress intended for
FERC to establish a national net metering program, it would have done so. Since then, 46 states
and the District of Columbia have followed Congress' intent by modifying their net metering
policies.
All fifty states have lost energy jobs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe it should
be the top priority of every federal agency to get Americans back to work safely and quickly.
Unfortunately, the NERA petition asks FERC to do the opposite -- if granted, it would jeopardize
business investment, threaten energy jobs in our districts, and delay the recovery of the industry.
In the past, FERC has repeatedly determined that state regulators have authority over retail
electricity programs. We urge FERC to once again affirm this precedent by quickly dismissing
NERA's petition.
Thank you for your service at the Commission and consideration of this request.