(a)The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(1)It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this section to prevent electricity generated by permanent or portable electric generators used by persons from back-feeding into an electrical distribution system causing possible bodily injury and harm, including death, and property damage.
(2)That every year in the State of Alabama the use of permanent or portable electric generators to supply power, unless appropriate safeguards are used, creates extremely hazardous conditions from back-feeding electric current onto electrical distribution systems of the electric supplier to which the homes or businesses are connecting, causing death, bodily injury, and property damage.
(3)The dangers created by portable or permanent generators m
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(a) The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(1) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this section to prevent electricity generated by permanent or portable electric generators used by persons from back-feeding into an electrical distribution system causing possible bodily injury and harm, including death, and property damage.
(2) That every year in the State of Alabama the use of permanent or portable electric generators to supply power, unless appropriate safeguards are used, creates extremely hazardous conditions from back-feeding electric current onto electrical distribution systems of the electric supplier to which the homes or businesses are connecting, causing death, bodily injury, and property damage.
(3) The dangers created by portable or permanent generators may be mitigated for the benefit of all, including the owner of the electric generator, by enacting certain safety standards to mitigate possible bodily injury, death, or property damage.
(b) In order to prevent back-feeding electricity onto the electric distribution system of the electric supplier, a portable electric generator that is capable of being connected directly into the electrical system of a commercial, industrial, or residential structure may only be connected and used if the structure’s electrical system and the electricity generated by the generator are isolated, at the main breaker panel of the structure, from the electrical distribution system.
(c)(1) This section does not apply to any electric generator that is capable of being permanently connected to the electrical system of a commercial, industrial, or residential structure by way of a transfer switch or other mechanism, as approved by the applicable electric supplier, so that the electricity generated by the generator is prevented from back-feeding onto the electric distribution system of the electric supplier, except as authorized by the applicable electric supplier.
(2) This section does not apply to a permanently connected generator that runs in parallel with the electric distribution system of an electric supplier or the electrical system of a structure and is approved by the applicable electric supplier.
(3) This section does not apply to a permanently connected energy storage system that receives energy from a generator or the applicable electric supplier, is capable of running in parallel with the electric distribution system of the electric supplier or the electrical system of a structure, and is approved by the applicable electric supplier.
(d) A person who violates this section shall be guilty of a Class C misdemeanor.
(e)(1) As used in this section, the term “electric supplier” has the same meaning as provided under Section 37-14-31.
(2) As used in this section, the term “generator” means a facility owned and operated by a customer of an electric supplier for the production of electrical energy, which is capable of transmitting electrical energy to the electric distribution system of the electric supplier at any time, and that is intended primarily to offset part or all of the customer’s requirements for electricity.
(f) Nothing in this section affects or modifies the jurisdiction of the Alabama Public Service Commission or any rates or service regulations filed with the commission.