March 17, 2015 | By Jaclyn Brandt

Nearly a month after vetoing a controversial net metering bill was presented to him, West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has signed a new version of the bill. House Bill (HB) 2201 requires the Public Service Commission to adopt certain net metering and interconnection rules and standards.

The sunrise over the Kanawha River in Winfield, West Virginia. Credit: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers/Wikimedia Commons

"Today I signed House Bill 2201, which regulates net metering as part of West Virginia's power generation," Gov. Tomblin said. "I appreciate the increasing role solar and wind power will play in our state, and I encourage the Public Service Commission to continue to evaluate the costs and benefits of West Virginia's net metering policy to balance the potential for new jobs and investment in alternative energy without unfairly burdening current rate-payers."

Earlier in February, Gov. Tomblin signed a bill to repeal the state's Alternative Renewable Energy Portfolio Act (AREPA), which required utilities with more than 30,000 customers to produce 25 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2025. Tomblin was asked by advocates to veto the original bill because of its potential impact on the state's solar industry. HB 2201 puts restrictions on net metering in the state, requests studies of net metering rules across the region, and caps net metering from solar power generation at 3 percent, with at least 0.5 percent of that from residential solar.

In February, Gov. Tomblin vetoed a previous version of the bill due to what he called "technical issues." However, he said he encouraged "the Legislature to re-examine this piece of legislation and correct the technical issues outlined in my veto message."

Although Gov. Tomblin has signed the bill, solar advocates see promise in his statement.

Bryan Miller, co-chairman for The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC), said, "The governor made clear in his public statement that he expects his appointed Commission to consider the benefits of solar. In a desperate attempt to become the thought police for West Virginia, AEP aggressively lobbied to prohibit regulators from considering any solar benefits at all. AEP failed in this extreme effort."

For more:
- read the bill

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