The Iowa Utilities Board is currently soliciting responses to a dizzying list of questions posed as part of an ongoing investigation (Docket No. NOI-2014-0001) of distributed generation that was initiated in January 2014. The IUB’s 41 questions generally pertain to details of net metering and interconnection, including the treatment of customer net excess generation, whether the establishment of a separate customer class for DG customers is justified, technical screens for the interconnection of proposed systems, and whether it would be appropriate to adopt Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s revised Small Generation Interconnection Procedures. The IUB has also invited public comments on a 190-page staff memo that includes, among other things, a summary of previous comments submitted in this proceeding, staff analysis and recommendations. The deadline to submit responses and additional comments is October 24, 2014.

Interestingly, in its order inviting responses to specific DG-related questions, the IUB stated that it is “encouraged that more electric cooperatives and municipal utilities are following the Board’s interconnection [and net metering] standards on a voluntary basis.” While the IUB declined at the time of its order to assert jurisdiction over electric cooperatives and municipal utilities, it “strongly encourages more of these utilities to adopt the Board’s standards so that the same standards apply in all parts of Iowa.”