Community solar developer Nexamp has filed a complaint against National Grid with the New York Public Service Commission accusing the utility of unfair price increases and violating state interconnection process agreements (25-E-0469).
The Boston-based company contested about $3.6 million in additional interconnection costs for 14 projects that it says is a 52% increase over what it originally was quoted by the utility. It asked the PSC to “scrutinize” National Grid’s interconnection practices and policies, alleging widespread impacts across all developers.
“Nexamp anticipates receiving similarly egregious and improper final reconciliation invoices for 41 additional Nexamp-owned solar projects in various stages of development with National Grid,” it said in its complaint, filed Aug. 7.
The company said the cost increases were driven by National Grid’s reliance on external contractors that caused final labor costs to “more than double” over the original estimates. It also said the utility had an “egregious disregard” for the PSC regulations, setting a 60-day deadline for issuing reconciliation invoices.
The projects range from 2.3 to 5 MW, totaling more than 61 MW of solar capacity, and took about three to five years to develop. Most received permission to operate (PTO) in late 2024.
“The projects were all in National Grid’s queue for multiple years prior to PTO, raising legitimate concerns about National Grid’s inability (or neglect) to manage its queue in a manner that would have avoided (or at the very least mitigated) the need to mobilize external contractors at the scale and expense that National Grid claims here,” the company said.
The company also complained that National Grid was using stale material cost data and potentially double charging for taxes.
Nexamp did not respond to a request for comment. A National Grid spokesperson said they would not comment on a pending regulatory complaint.
Nexamp calls itself the largest community solar developer in the U.S., operating 1 GW of projects nationwide and 400 MW of solar and storage in New York. The company says it has 250 MW of assets under development.
