The conditions listed in this subchapter shall apply to all qualifying facilities served under these rules.
(A) The utility shall purchase energy or capacity and energy from any approved distributed generation customer who offers to sell energy or capacity and energy from his or her generation facilities under 100 kW. The generation may use renewable resources, a fuel cell, cogeneration or a hydrocarbon fueled unit to generate electricity. It shall be intended to provide part or all of the customer’s requirements for electricity and have a generating capacity that is less than or equal to 125% of the customer’s total connected load at the site where the distributed generation is located. Generation that is not consistent with these limits shall be required to obtain a negotiated contract with the utility. Nothing in this subchapter shall limit the utility’s ability to evaluate the distributed generation and determine terms and conditions that are mutually satisfactory to all parties and in no way shall be detrimental to the operation of the utility’s facilities and customers.
(B) The utility shall sell any capacity and energy that is required by the qualifying facility to the qualifying facility. The qualifying facility shall be billed under the applicable residential, general, industrial or contractual service schedule.
(C) The utility shall offer to provide maintenance, interruptible, supplementary and back-up power to the qualifying facility if requested by the qualifying facility.
(D) The distributed generation owner shall execute a written agreement with the utility. The utility reserves the right to waive this requirement. The waiving of this requirement by the utility does not relinquish the utility’s right to require the execution of a written agreement in the future.
(E) The distributed generation shall comply with all requirements of the National Electrical Safety Code, American National Standards Institute, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and any other applicable local, state or national code, including current IEEE standards, and operate its equipment according to prudent utility practice. In case of any conflict in the foregoing codes or standards, the utility shall decide which shall govern.
(F) Switching equipment capable of isolating the distributed generation from the utility’s system shall be accessible to the utility or its agent at all times.
(G) At its option, the utility or its agent may choose to operate, without notice or liability, the switching equipment described in division (F) of this section if, in the opinion of the utility or its agent, continued operation of the distributed generation in connection with the utility’s system may create or contribute to a system emergency or safety hazard. The utility’s obligation to purchase from the distributed generation system ceases when the utility or its agent operates the switching equipment described in division (F) of this section. The utility shall endeavor to minimize any adverse effects of the operation on the distributed generation system.
(H) The distributed generation owner shall indemnify and hold harmless the utility from any and all liability arising from the operation and interconnection of the customer’s facilities. The distributed generation owner shall bear full responsibility for the installation and safe operation of the equipment required to generate and deliver energy or capacity and energy to the point of interconnection.
(I) The owner of a distributed generation facility who employs operations, maintenance or other personnel in relation to the distributed generation shall maintain worker’s compensation insurance as required by law, and all distributed generation facilities shall maintain public liability insurance covering bodily injury and property damage in an amount not less than $5,000,000 per occurrence. Each public liability policy shall name the utility as an additional insured.
(J) The utility shall not be liable whether in contract or in tort or under any other legal theory to the owner of a distributed generation facility, the owner’s customers or any other person or entity for:
(1) Lost generation revenue;
(2) Loss of use, revenue or profit;
(3) Cost of capital;
(4) Substitute use or performance; or
(5) Any other incidental, indirect, special or consequential damages.
(K) The utility shall provide upon request sufficient data to allow the customer to determine the cost- effectiveness of the distributed generation if it goes into operation pursuant to these rules.
(L) The distributed generation owner shall provide an advance payment to the utility if in the opinion of the utility the costs of interconnection will be excessive or the amount of work that must be done by the utility to provide the interconnection facilities will be excessive.
(M) Any costs of interconnection which are over and above the interconnection costs that would be incurred due to the connection of a comparable non-generating customer and which are incurred by the utility due to the interconnection of the distributed generation shall be the responsibility of the distributed generation owner. Interconnection costs may be amortized over a period of time not greater than the length of the contract between the utility and the distributed generation owner, at the option of the utility.
(N) The utility may discontinue sales to the distributed generation customer during a system emergency, providing that the discontinuance is on a nondiscriminatory basis.
(O) Should the owner of a distributed generation facility request the utility to wheel its power to an adjacent utility, the utility may do so, at its option.
(P) If the utility agrees to wheel the power, a charge may be made to the distributed generation owner for interconnection costs, any modifications to the utility’s facilities to accommodate the wheeling, use of the utility’s facilities to wheel and any associated administrative costs.
(Q) The amount of power wheeled may be adjusted up or down according to the effect on the utility’s system losses due to wheeling.
(1991 Code, § 14-3)