Annual Compliance Information for Retail Electric Suppliers

2018 - 2020 Banked Alternative Energy Certificates 

Due to the current state of the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (APS) market, the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) is providing the aggregate number of Alternative Energy Certificates (AECs) that have been banked by Load Serving Entities (LSE) in 2018 through 2020, in order to provide greater market transparency for the 2021 compliance year. 

AECs Banked by Load Serving Entities (LSE)

If you have any questions on the 2018 and 2019 banked AECs, please email John Wassam at john.wassam@mass.gov.

The Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) and Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (APS) Regulations require each Massachusetts Retail Electricity Supplier's total annual sales of each Massachusetts Retail Electricity Product to include a minimum percentage of energy sales from these obligations:

• RPS Class I (formerly "RPS")
• RPS Class I Solar Carve-Out
• RPS Class I Solar Carve-Out II
• RPS Class II Renewables
• RPS Class II Waste Energy
• APS
• Clean Peak Energy Standard 
• Clean Energy Portfolio Standard

In order to demonstrate compliance with these requirements, each Retail Electricity Supplier must submit an Annual Compliance Filing to the Department of Energy Resources no later than July 1 of the subsequent Compliance Year. 

2021 RPS/APS/CES Annual Compliance Filing Instructions

2022 RPS/APS/CPS/CES Annual Compliance Workbook

2022 RPS/APS/CPS/CES Webinar Slides

2022 RPS/APS Compliance Filing Webinar Recording

RPS Compliance Basis Guideline (5/24/12)

RPS and APS Minimum Standards

Each class and subclass of RPS and APS has its own percentage obligation for compliance; those percentages rise each year in the case of RPS Class I and APS, but not for RPS Class II. Starting in 2020 the RPS Class I will grow by 2% a year until 2029, and it will continue to annually grow at 1% after that. The APS minimum standard will continue to annually grow at 0.25%. The RPS I Solar Carve-Out, RPS Solar Carve-Out II, and RPS Class II Renewable Minimum Standards are set each August for the following year; the standards are based on formulas that take into account current market conditions. Each year the Retail Suppliers must show that they have purchased a sufficient amount of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), Alternative Energy Certificates (AECs), Waste Energy Certificates (WECs), Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs), and Solar Renewable Energy Certificate IIs (SREC IIs) to meet the Minimum Standard for that class. In general, the Retail Supplier determines the number of certificates that are needed each Compliance Year by multiplying their total annual sales times the Minimum Standard.

Minimum Standards through 2030

RPS Solar Carve-Out and Solar Carve-out II Minimum Standards

The RPS Solar Carve-out and Solar Carve-out II Minimum Standards are set each August per formulas contained in the RPS Class I Regulation. The results of these calculations from prior years can be found on the following page.

RPS Class II Renewable Energy Minimum Standards

The RPS Class II Renewable Energy Minimum Standard is set each August per a formula contained in the Class II Regulation. The 2025 Minimum Standard calculation is detailed in the following document:

Determination of CY 2025 Class II Renewable Minimum Standard

Previous Years’ Determinations:

Determination of CY 2024 Class II Renewable Minimum Standard

Determination of CY 2023 Class II Renewable Minimum Standard

Determination of CY 2022 Class II Renewable Minimum Standard

Determination of CY 2021 Class II Renewable Minimum Standard

Determination of CY 2020 Class II Renewable Minimum Standard

Determination of CY 2019 Class II Renewable Minimum Standard

Determination of CY 2018 Class II Renewable Minimum Standard 

Determination of CY 2017 Class II Renewable Minimum Standard 

Determination of CY 2016 Class II Renewable Minimum Standard 

Compliance Year Load Obligations

Annual Compliance obligations are assessed based on the total load served by Retail Suppliers, which is calculated according to the process outlined in DOER’s RPS Compliance Basis Guideline. DOER obtains the final retail load obligation after the close the calendar year, and before the close of the REC trading year, in order to determine the total compliance obligation. For 2021, total retail sales in Massachusetts equaled 44,374,193 MWh. The following table contains the total load obligations for past compliance years. 

2022 Total Load Obligation

Alternative Compliance Payments (ACP) Rates and Information

General Information

Any Retail Electricity Supplier that is required to comply with the Massachusetts RPS and APS regulations may, if necessary, discharge some or all of its obligations by making an Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) in the appropriate amount to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC). The MassCEC will give each Retail Electricity Supplier a receipt for each ACP transaction. Each Supplier must include copies of its receipts in its Annual Compliance Filing. Suppliers must submit filings for the 2021 Compliance Year to the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) no later than Friday, July 1, 2022.

The ACP rate for the first year of each standard was specified in regulation. The ACP rate for each subsequent Compliance Year for RPS Class II and APS must be published by DOER by January 31 of that year and must be adjusted in accordance with the previous year's Consumer Price Index (see table below).

The RPS Class I Solar Carve-Out and RPS Class I Solar Carve-Out II ACP rates, the CPS ACP rate and, since 2021, the RPS Class I ACP rate are not based on the Consumer Price Index. Their ACP rates are specified by regulation. In addition, the ACP rate for RPS Class I Waste-to-Energy for the Compliance Years 2021-2025 is tied to the RPS Class II Renewable ACP rate.

Annual ACP Rate Adjustments

DOER must publish each Compliance Year's adjusted rate for ACPs by January 31^st of that Compliance Year. The ACP Rate is equal to the previous year's ACP Rate adjusted up or down according to the previous year's Consumer Price Index (CPI). DOER uses the "Consumer Price Index - All Urban Consumers: Northeast Region All Items," which is issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and is not seasonally adjusted. DOER uses the following formula to calculate the adjusted ACP rate each year:

ACP Rate of Next Compliance Year = (ACP Rate of current Compliance Year) x (CPI of current Compliance Year / CPI of previous Compliance Year).

The following table reflects the ACP Rates in effect from 2003 – 2022.