BEC has a tariff (rules of the game) for Members who want to make their own power from renewable resources.

Get the full details in the Distributed Generation Tariff (a PDF file) and from the DG Application (a PDF file). Here are a few items from the tariff related to renewable resources that you may want to know:

• The customer charge will go up from $20 to $30 per month for members who are on the tariff. This is because of the extra administration oversight required. The billing process for those accounts is different from the normal. Simply stated, there is more to keep up with on those accounts.

• There are some other one time startup fees that are explained in the tariff.

• “Net metering” is allowed in an innovative way. For small power producers (BEC expects most members who are using solar panels or wind generators will be in this category), BEC will “bank” excess kilowatt-hours above their usage on any specific month. That means in future months when their usage exceeds their power production BEC will draw from their bank and apply the previous excess production to their current bill. In no case will BEC write a check for the excess power a member’s equipment has produced.

• Also, each year on the anniversary of their getting on the special tariff their account will be reviewed and any excess balance will be set back to “0”.

• BEC has to add a second meter to measure how much power a member is producing.

• The Wind turbine or solar panel must have a "UL" listed inverter specifically to be grid connected.

• To get started, members need to read the  Distributed Generation Tariff (PDF file), complete the DG Application (PDF file) and bring it into a BEC office.