Section 504-49-500 - Is there a time limit on when incentive payment may be made for a system's generated electricity? Yes. Incentive payments may only be made for kilowatt-hours generated on or after July 1, 2017, and for the following eight years, or until cumulative incentive payments for electricity generated by the project reach fifty percent of the total system price, including applicable sales tax, whichever occurs first.
(1) Authorization of incentive payments. No incentive payments may be authorized or accrued until the final electrical inspection and executed interconnection agreement are submitted to the energy program.(2) Certification is valid for the incentive program term. This certification entitles the person, business, or household to receive incentive payments for electricity generated from the date the renewable energy system commences operation, or the date the system is certified, whichever date is later.(3) Changes to incentive rates. Incentive rates determined by certification date may not be retroactively changed except to correct errors that were made during the original application or certification process and that are discovered later.(4) Incentive schedule. Incentives are issued based on the gross kilowatt-hours generated during the fiscal year beginning on July 1st and ending on June 30th. For the last year of incentive payments, the payment is the balance of the last year of generation less the first year of generation. A negative balance for the last year results in nonpayment.(5) Certification date. Certification date is determined by the date when the energy program completes its review of a submitted application. However, due to the timing of this program, the following administrative processes apply: (a) For applications submitted from July 1, 2017, to December 31, 2017:(i) For purposes of systems that commenced operation on or after July 1, 2017: The certification date is assigned based on the date that the local jurisdiction issued its final approval of the electrical inspection of the renewable energy system.(ii) For purposes of systems that commenced operation before July 1, 2017: The certification date is assigned as July 1, 2017.(b) For applications submitted on or after January 1, 2018: The certification date is assigned on the date when the energy program completes its review of a submitted application. The energy program encourages customer-owners to submit all applications on the date the local jurisdiction issues its final approval of the electrical inspection of the renewable energy system. In instances where the certification date might follow the final electrical inspection by more than thirty days, the customer-owner or the serving utility must provide additional information to ascertain the correct initial electrical generation amount to use in calculating the first year of incentive payments.Wash. Admin. Code § 504-49-500
Adopted by WSR 18-20-025, Filed 9/24/2018, effective 10/25/2018