A new law in New Jersey has revised the state’s discretionary net metering cap by setting that limit to equal 2.9% of total annual in-state sales made by each electric supplier during the prior one-year period, replacing the current benchmark of 2.5% of state peak electricity demand. S.B. 2420 also clarifies that any allowance to cease offering net metering would not affect existing net-metered customers. The cap itself is somewhat of a “soft cap” in that it permits — but does not obligate — the Board of Public Utilities to allow suppliers to cease offering net metering when the cap is reached. The new law retains the “soft” character of the cap, allowing the BPU discretion to determine whether the cap should be instituted. EQ Research projects that this revision quadruples New Jersey’s existing soft cap of approximately 500 MW to approximately 1,900 MW, thereby opening the door for the current level of net-metered capacity (approximately 900 MW in aggregate) to double.

Note: EQ Research’s Justin Barnes was recently interviewed by PV Magazine about the effects of S.B. 2420. That article appears here.