Senior Associate Lisa Schwartz provided a national perspective on net metering and related policies at a workshop on October 11, 2012, hosted by the Minnesota Department of Commerce’s Division of Energy Resources. Representatives from the state’s renewable energy associations, utilities, businesses, cities, and other stakeholders met to discuss the impacts of net metering in Minnesota, potential alternative solutions to align the values and costs of distributed generation to the utility system with customer choices, and existing information gaps. Ms. Schwartz provided insight into net metering trends and policies in other states, revenue issues for utilities, and considerations for standby rates. She highlighted examples of other policies that support distributed generation such as value-based tariffs in Austin and Sacramento, and Oregon’s use of competitive bidding and standard offers for a pilot feed-in tariff.