CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

ALBANY — The Legislature will pass a bill next month to let any office building, store, school or factory generate electricity from renewable energy and sell the extra to a utility at the same price the utility charges, lawmakers said.

That change, legislators and environmentalists said, will provide a major incentive for generating more power from clean, renewable energy sources.

"We look at this as clean power that is grown right here in New York," said Laura Haight of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

The measure, known as a "net-metering" law, would force utilities to credit the smaller electricity producers at the "retail" rate — essentially running those customers' electric meters backward when they send power into the grid instead of drawing it out. The bill also would permit customers to sell more electricity to utilities and earn larger credits than are allowed now.

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