Rhode Island net metering installers lose weeks when Schedule B, Exhibit A, and the one-line describe three different systems. CEI does not care that your sales proposal used last year’s kWh offset slide. They care that RIPUC 2279 Schedule B, the interconnection application, and the diagrams agree, and that you wait for the bi-directional meter before you treat the job as live.
This is the process page. It is not a recap of Rhode Island Energy’s August 2026 net metering filing or the suspension fight that followed. If you need that docket context, read Athol’s post on Docket 26-30-EL and then come back here to file the packet you can actually file today.
Athol Energy prepares the interconnection file on the same drawings as the municipal set. Net metering is a billing and metering election inside that file, not a third design company.
Rhode Island net metering installers must get right on Schedule B
Rhode Island Energy’s interconnection documents page lists Schedule B, the Net Metering Service Information Form, under RIPUC 2279 effective May 12, 2026. Parts B and C still sit as an XLSX, with an example template last updated January 2024 on the documents list we reviewed. Use the template format. Replace the placeholders. Do not paste a screenshot of an old PDF into the portal and call it Parts B and C.
Schedule B has to match the customer of record, the account number, and the kW on Exhibit A. If the homeowner is on a dual-name bill and Exhibit A used one name while Schedule B used the other, CEI will stop you for legal identity before they ever look at stringing. Attach a recent bill. The name on the bill is the name that should appear unless you have a documented account change in flight.
Simplified net metering, on a listed inverter-based facility that can export 25 kW or less and that passes RIPUC 2258 screens (tariff effective September 1, 2022), uses Exhibit A. The Simplified process article lists, for net metering and Re-Growth alike: one-line, site diagram, technical specifications (PDF cut sheets), Exhibit A, legal information document, and Exhibit I retail customer agreement if applicable. Schedule B is listed as required for net metering. Missing Schedule B on a net-metered IA is not a “we’ll send it at completion” item. It is an incomplete application.
Expedited net-metered jobs use Exhibit C, the legal information document, Schedule B, a recent bill, design diagrams, and the IA fee. Rhode Island Energy’s Expedited article has listed $3/kW with a $300 minimum and $2,500 maximum. Confirm the live portal before you quote it. [CONFIRM AS OF 2026-09-19] A PE-stamped diagram is part of that Expedited stack. Do not reuse a Simplified Exhibit A PDF with the header taped over.
What the drawings have to show for net metering
The one-line must show the existing revenue meter, the proposed metering configuration, the isolation device, the inverter(s), and the PCC. Net metering is usually a bi-directional billing meter at the service, not a separate REG production meter. If you copied a Re-Growth sample one-line that shows a production meter and you are filing net metering, you just asked meter services to build the wrong socket.
Rhode Island Energy’s ESB 756 supplement includes sample residential photovoltaic one-lines for single-phase net-metered installations. Use the sample as a symbol and sequence check, not as a tracing overlay that still says “sample.” IEEE symbols, readable ratings, and a revision block that matches the portal upload name keep CEI from asking whether revision 3 is the file they should screen.
The site diagram needs enough geometry to find the meter and the disconnect. If the meter is in a tight side yard, show the path. If you need a dedicated phone line for a meter, the Simplified process article still mentions forwarding a dedicated phone line number when CEI requests the net meter. If that requirement still applies to your meter type, put it on the site diagram and in the application notes. [CONFIRM AS OF 2026-09-19]
Nameplate on the one-line has to be the nameplate on Schedule B. Module count changes after a roof obstruction are a Schedule B revision, not a field joke. Community remote net metering and community net metering have extra Schedule B parts and a separate community application spreadsheet on the documents page. Do not file a behind-the-meter residential Schedule B for a community allocation job.
Sequence from complete IA to the new meter
File in the portal. Completeness is CEI’s word for the initial documents being received and approved. It is not PTO. Conditional approval (Simplified) or an ISA (Expedited/Standard) is permission to build that design. Build the isolation device where the approved site diagram put it. If the electrician moved it around the corner, revise before completion.
After construction, Rhode Island Energy’s completion-documents article applies once you already have a countersigned IA (Simplified) or conditional approval plus a signed ISA (Expedited/Standard). Every interconnecting customer submits a Certificate of Completion filled during the municipal electrical inspection. Simplified uses Exhibit A2. Expedited or Standard uses Exhibit B2 as listed on their completion page. Then submit the rest of the completion checklist for your track. Their note is important: the checklists are general; the ISA or conditional-approval email can add items.
When the relevant steps are done, CEI requests the new net meter and forwards account information (including Schedule B), contacts, phone line if applicable, and an estimated in-service date to meter and account services. The Simplified process article says the installation is typically scheduled and completed within 15 business days after that request. That clock starts when CEI sends the request, not when you uploaded Exhibit A2 at 6 p.m. Ask CEI for the request date on the application if a homeowner is counting days.
Do not energize for production on the old detented meter. Rhode Island Energy’s completion language has warned about billing issues in that case. Testing windows, if CEI grants them, are not a permission to operate. Authorization to Interconnect is the written OK. Athol’s Rhode Island Energy interconnection and PTO post is the closeout companion. PTO versus the building permit is the language page for crews who still say PPO for the city sticker.
Net metering versus REG on the same roof
If the contract is Renewable Energy Growth, stop using this net-metering closeout as a template. REG has its own enrollment forms, often a production meter, and Minimum Technical Guidance (Rhode Island Energy listed a June 2024 PDF on the documents page). Mixing REG payment forms into a net-metering IA, or the reverse, is how CEI sends you back to square one. Pick the program at intake. Draw that metering. File those forms.
If a customer wants to switch programs after completeness, treat it as a new legal and metering design. Do not “just change the Schedule B.” You may need a different exhibit package and a different one-line. Confirm with CEI before you promise a switch in a text thread.
Municipal permits still run in parallel. The statewide solar permit and the city inspection do not enroll net metering. They only get you to the Certificate of Completion CEI wants. Rhode Island design keeps the AHJ set aligned so Exhibit A2 is not describing a different breaker than DIS approved.
If CEI’s comment is “Schedule B incomplete,” do not resubmit the entire IA ZIP. Fix Parts B and C, match the kW, and answer the comment. If the comment is “wrong process,” you are probably over 25 kW AC or you failed a Simplified screen. Move to Exhibit C instead of arguing about a 24.9 kW story that the inverter cut sheet contradicts.
Ops habits that keep net-metered jobs out of CEI limbo
Assign one owner for Schedule B. Project managers who let sales, design, and accounting each edit a copy of Parts B and C will file the wrong kW. The live spreadsheet should sit next to the live one-line. When the roof loses two modules to a vent, both files change the same afternoon.
Account numbers from a blurry bill scan are a classic stall. If the scan cuts the account, ask for a portal screenshot. If the customer just moved, the old National Grid-era bill is not the Rhode Island Energy account you need. Confirm the company name on the letterhead. Rhode Island Energy is the interconnecting utility. Do not attach a gas bill.
Dual-name accounts: pick the legal path before Exhibit A. If both names must appear, they must appear the same way on Exhibit A, Schedule B, and the legal information document. A nickname on one form and a trust name on another is a completeness fail that looks like a drawing fail in the weekly ops meeting.
Meter location photos at intake save the 15-business-day clock later. If the meter is behind a locked gate, say so. If a dedicated phone line is still required for that meter type, the site diagram should show where the jack lives. If CEI later says the phone line is obsolete for this socket, we will remove it. Until they say that, we draw what their process article still mentions. [CONFIRM AS OF 2026-09-19]
Train the electrician that a passed city sticker is not a license to backfeed the old detented meter “just for testing” over a weekend. Testing windows, if granted, are short and documented. Production on the wrong meter is a billing event the homeowner will blame on you. Hold the inverter off until Authorization to Interconnect and the bi-directional meter are both real.
Rhode Island net metering installers who keep Schedule B, the one-line, and the meter location identical across files spend their time on trucks, not on CEI ping-pong. Send the bill, the equipment list, and the program choice. We will tell you whether you are on Exhibit A plus Schedule B, or whether REG metering belongs on the sheet instead.