In its 2020 appropriations for the Department of Energy, the U.S. Congress directed the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to appoint an ad hoc committee of experts to study the issues associated with net metering, including the medium-to-long term impacts of net metering on the electricity grid and consumers. This study will begin with a definition of net metering and a discussion of the history and implementation of net metering. The study will include a discussion of net metering planning and operating techniques, business models, and architectures, as well as electric service rate designs and new technology developments. Current net metering and alternative policies will be discussed as distinct topics because each may have different underlying enabling technologies. The committee will provide an analysis of the opportunities and challenges relevant to net metering, including broad stakeholder acceptance and adoption of distributed renewable energy resources. The committee will assess net metering in the context of alternative transactional mechanisms and incentives, and evaluate its potential to contribute to a decarbonizing, equitable, and resilient electricity system. The study will give recommendations on key principles for policymakers when considering net metering and alternative policies.

In developing its report, this committee will consider the following key topics.

· Performance and Effects of Net Metering and its Alternatives on Business Models, Consumers, Technology Suppliers, Electricity Markets, and Grid Operations at High Penetrations of Distributed Renewables. The committee will examine the capability of net metering and successor policies to provide accurate valuations of electricity, ensure sufficient financial support for investment and operations necessary for the system, and support equitable, well-functioning, and economically efficient markets as the quantities of renewable resources and other assets connected to the distribution side of the grid greatly increases. Metering alternatives should be described and assessed on their potential to provide improvements in transactions, measurements, and incentives for the use of distributed renewable generation. As new metering technologies allow for more complexity in valuation and billing, the ability of consumers to understand this complexity will be considered by the committee.

· Emergence of New Technologies, and Effects on Consumer and Industry Transactions and Incentives. The committee will consider how new technologies and their attendant new capabilities alter the roles of the participants in the system, the requirements of each participant to fulfill those roles, and the challenges and opportunities present. Consumers in particular will need the information and context necessary to participate fully. Customer-owned distributed energy resources are capable of providing grid services to both distribution and transmission entities in addition to any purpose a customer may choose, and therefore, issues of consent, compensation and privacy should be studied by the committee.

· Alternative Metering Systems that Promote Equitable Distribution of System Resources and Costs. Net metering and supporting technologies should be considered both from the perspectives of participants and non-participants, and key principles for assessing fairness should be discussed. Fair and equitable electric service, which is an ultimate system objective, is not addressable solely by net metering or any successor policies. As such, the discussion should be within the broader context of electric utility regulatory policies that impact equity, including access to distributed energy resources and designing successor tariffs to increase the adoption of distributed energy resources by customers from lower-income and marginalized communities.

· How Net Metering and Alternatives May Affect the Evolution of the Electricity System.This study will assess the extent to which net metering and alternative policies may adapt to or enable different electricity system structures, such as one with increased distributed elements for advanced reliability and resilience, equity, and the adoption of different technologies, such as behind-the-meter storage systems and rooftop and community solar.