The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Wednesday changed its mind on how much landlords of multi-unit complexes can charge tenants for power coming from a solar system or other renewable installation.
Under Connecticut’s submetering law passed in 2013, landlords can charge tenants of residential and commercial multi-unit developments for their individual energy use, as opposed to charging everyone one flat fee. The law also allows landlords to install renewable systems like solar, fuel cells or wind turbines and then charge tenants for the power coming from those systems to pay off their costs.
PURA, among other consumer protections, had been deciding how much landlords could charge, and in an initial preliminary ruling in April, said landlords had to adhere to a complex formula where the end result was less than the price of utility power. That ruling also said landlords had to remit payment to the electric utilities to cover the costs of the state’s renewable energy and efficiency programs.
Developer Bruce Becker, who has installed fuel cell systems in Hartford and New Haven, balked at that ruling, saying the formula was too complex and landlords shouldn’t have to remit payment for the state’s energy programs because their tenants wouldn’t be eligible to participate in those programs.
In a new decision issued Wednesday, PURA largely agreed with Becker, saying landlords could charge up to the same price as if their tenants were buying power directly from the electric utilities. The ruling also said landlords did not have to pay into the state’s energy programs.
