Cleveland Updates Rules for Local Energy Generation and Billing
Cleveland is updating how the city manages residents and businesses that install their own energy resources, such as solar panels, on their property. Through the passage of emergency ordinance 587-2026, the city is amending the Codified Ordinances to better handle the growing number of people connecting distributed energy resources to the Cleveland Public Power (CPP) electric grid. These changes are intended to maintain the safety and reliability of the city's electric distribution system while managing the billing and technical requirements of local energy production.
What's in the file
According to the Legislative Summary, the ordinance amends Sections 523.25 and 523.26 to address the increasing scale and frequency of distributed energy installations. The updates include:
- Removing previous maximum project size limits for energy resource installations.
- Clarifying the required approval process to preserve the safety and integrity of the CPP electric distribution system.
- Defining new key terms specific to customers with distributed generation resources.
- Updating billing terms, processes, and requirements for "net metering."
The legislation establishes a specific two-step method for how power generated by a customer affects their utility bill:
- Generated power first reduces the Power Supply Recovery (PSR) portion of the customer's bill, up to the full amount of the PSR.
- Any additional power generated beyond the PSR amount is credited to the customer’s account as a "Customer Owned Generation Credit," calculated based on CPP’s purchased power cost at the time of the original billing.
Who may be affected
- Cleveland Public Power (CPP) Customers: Includes current customers, future customers requesting distributed energy resources, and customers leaving CPP who still have credits on their accounts.
- Department of Public Utilities: Responsible for managing the interconnection, safety, and billing processes for the electric distribution system.
Status and timeline
- May 7, 2026: Ordinance 587-2026 was introduced to City Council.
- July 24, 2026: The ordinance was recorded in the City Record as passed.
Residents can verify these details by reviewing the official record for File 587-2026 via the Cleveland City Council website.
Source record
- File
- 587-2026
- Type
- Emergency Ordinance
- Status
- Passed
- Committee
- City Council
- Introduced
- May 6, 2026
Official documents
- 587-2026 Amend 523.25 Interconnection service for distributed generation
- 587-2026 & 588-2026- Legislative Summary- Net Metering (002)
- FINAL VERSION City Record July 24, 2026 - Page 25