A Montana legislative committee is conducting an analysis of net metering, including economic benefits and potential customer cost-shifting, pursuant to a joint resolution approved earlier this year. The Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee’s goal is to produce a bill for the state’s 2017 session.

At a meeting scheduled for January 15, 2016, the Committee may discuss whether it should continue the discussion among stakeholders about the costs and benefits of net metering, or shift the focus of the discussion toward cost recovery. It could also refocus the study on how best to recover a utility’s fixed T&D costs from all ratepayers in a non-discriminatory manner and to encourage policy goals (incentives) it deems appropriate. The Committee also plans to examine at jobs, tax revenues, and other economic development impacts of net metering at the meeting.