The Community Power Score assigns points to each state based on its policy environment for supporting local energy action. It includes points for all of the state policies in the map above. The 2019 Community Power Scorecard scoring methodology is as follows:
| Community Choice Aggregation | 7 points for having a state policy allowing communities to choose their electricity supply |
| Net Metering | 5 possible points for having a “customer-friendly” net metering environment based on each state’s net metering grade provided by SolarPowerRocks. 0 for an F grade, 2 points for a D, 3 for a C, 4 for a B, and 5 for an A grade. |
| State Renewable Portfolio Standard Carve-Outs | 5 points for a distributed generation or solar-specific renewable portfolio standard |
| Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) | 3 points for Single-Family Residential or Commercial PACE, 5 points for both |
| Residential Energy Building Codes | 1 point for a state-set code, 3 points for local authority with no state code, 5 points for a state code with local stretch code |
| State (Feed-in) Tariffs | 3 points for having a state feed-in tariff |
| Shared Renewables | 6 possible points for a statewide shared/community renewables policy and program. Rubric developed to evaluate existing policies and programs across six different factors:
1 point for an enabling state policy (e.g., virtual net metering or a shared renewables policy); 1 point for a full-fledged program (i.e., one that is ongoing, that is more than a pilot program, and has no sunset date); 1 point for multiple utilities included in policy; 1 point for meaningful policy or requirements that specifically address low-income access; 1 point for effective and established programs (>100 MW developed capacity); and 1 for policies that include multiple eligible technologies (e.g., solar, wind, digesters) |
| Interconnection | 0 for an average grade from IREC on policies for connecting renewables to the grid, +1 for a B, +2 for an A. -2 or -1, respectively, for an F or D grade. |
The current scoring methodology can be found on our interactive Community Power Map.
