How to Fill Out Eversource Schedule Z: Host Account and Credits

The Eversource Schedule Z is the one-page Massachusetts form that tells Eversource where to send the net metering credits your solar, wind, or other qualifying system earns. Fill it out with your Host account details, decide whether credits stay on your bill or get split among other accounts, list each receiving account with the percentage share you’re assigning, sign it, and submit it through Eversource’s Renewable Credits Portal. The form and a completed sample are on Eversource’s Massachusetts net metering page.¹

What Schedule Z Controls

Your Host account is the Eversource account physically connected to the generating facility. By default, every credit your system produces lands there. Schedule Z is the mechanism that redirects some or all of those credits to other accounts, called eligible customers. It’s how community solar subscribers get paid and how an owner with multiple meters shares value across locations. If you never file one, credits simply accumulate on the Host bill.

Before You Start

Pull a recent Eversource bill for the Host account and a recent bill from every account you plan to allocate credits to. You’ll need account-specific numbers that only appear on the bills themselves. If any receiving account belongs to a municipality or other public entity, you’ll also need its DPU Public Classification ID from the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. Private residential and commercial customers leave that field blank.

Filling In the Host Account Section

The top of the form covers the generating facility and its Host account:

Host Customer Name, exactly as it appears on the Eversource account. Not a DBA, not a nickname.
Telephone number.
Address of the facility, meaning the physical location of the generation equipment.
Billing Account Number from the Host bill. This is the number tied to the specific meter, not the Customer ID that appears elsewhere on the same bill.
Meter Number, usually printed near the usage summary on the bill.
Application ID Number, assigned to you during interconnection.
DPU Public Classification ID, only if the Host is a public entity.

Choosing How Credits Are Applied

The form offers three choices for what happens each billing period:

Keep all credits on the Host account. Pick this and you skip the allocation table entirely.
Allocate all credits to other eligible accounts. Nothing stays on the Host bill.
Split credits between the Host account and one or more other accounts.

Allocations are done by percentage. There is no fixed-dollar-amount option. Whatever share you don’t assign to other accounts stays on the Host account automatically, and the total allocated to others cannot exceed 100%.

Listing Each Eligible Customer Account

For every account that will receive credits, enter:

Customer Name as it appears on that account’s electric bill.
Service Address, meaning the physical location served. This is not necessarily the mailing address printed on the bill, and the two often differ.
Billing Account Number from that account’s Eversource statement.
DPU Public Classification ID, if the receiving account is a public entity.
Percentage of credits allocated to that account.

Verify every digit before you submit. A wrong account number either leaves credits stuck on the Host bill or sends them to the wrong customer, and correcting it means filing a new Schedule Z.

The Class III Purchase Option

If your facility is Class III (generating capacity above 1 MW up to 2 MW), Eversource has the option to buy your credits outright rather than allocate them.² The form asks you to estimate how many accounts will receive allocations: fewer than 50, up to 100, or more than 100. Eversource uses that estimate to decide. You’ll hear back within 30 days. If Eversource elects to purchase, it sends a check each billing period. If it elects to allocate, you complete the beneficiary list and resubmit.

Generation Reporting and Signature

Generation data is due to Eversource twice a year: by January 31 for the prior year’s production, and by September 30 for year-to-date. The Host customer, meaning the account holder with authority over the interconnection agreement, signs and dates the bottom of the form.

Where Your Credits Are Allowed to Go

The geographic rules depend on when the facility was interconnected and what type it is, and this is where filers most often assume more freedom than they have:

Class I, II, or III facilities that are not new solar: credits can only go to accounts within the same Eversource service territory and the same ISO-NE load zone.²
New solar facilities (those that applied for a cap allocation after September 26, 2016, or received one after January 8, 2017): credits can go to any electric distribution company account in Massachusetts, including National Grid and Unitil.³
Neighborhood net metering facilities: credits can only go to customers in the same neighborhood who have an ownership interest in, or are served by, the facility.²
Cap-exempt facilities serving on-site load: credits can go to any distribution company account in the Commonwealth.³

Where to Submit

For standard allocations to other Eversource accounts, submit through the Renewable Credits Portal linked on Eversource’s net metering FAQ page. Standard Schedule Z forms emailed to the interconnection department will not be accepted.⁴

Cross-utility allocations to National Grid or Unitil accounts are available only to facilities larger than 25 kW that meet additional criteria, and those forms go by email to the address for your region:⁴

Eastern Massachusetts: EMACrossEDCAllocations@eversource.com
Western Massachusetts: WMACrossEDCAllocations@eversource.com

If you’re mailing physical documents, use the interconnection address for your service territory:⁵

Eastern Massachusetts: Eversource Energy, Attention: Eversource EM DG, 247 Station Drive, Westwood, MA 02090 (emdg@eversource.com)
Western Massachusetts: Eversource Energy, Attention: Eversource WM DG, 300 Cadwell Drive, Springfield, MA 01104 (wmdg@eversource.com)

Once processing is complete, allocated credits appear on receiving accounts each month shortly after the Host bill is issued. If credits don’t appear after two billing cycles, call the solar billing line for your region: 800-340-9822 for Eastern Massachusetts, 888-783-6610 for Western Massachusetts.⁵

Changing Your Allocations Later

You can revise your Schedule Z up to four times per calendar year without needing special permission from Eversource.³ Each revision is a new Schedule Z filed through the same channel. More frequent changes require mutual written agreement between you and Eversource. If a designated receiving account closes, its allocated percentage reverts to the Host account automatically unless you and Eversource agree in writing to something different.

If you’re closing the Host account or moving, file a final Schedule Z before closure to redirect the accrued balance. You have up to one year after closure to request a one-time transfer of remaining credits to one or more electric accounts.³ Take no action and Eversource applies the residual credits to offset net metering recovery surcharges spread across all customers.⁴

1
Eversource. Massachusetts Net Metering
2
Legal Information Institute. 220 CMR 18.05 – Allocation of Net Metering Credits
3
Mass.gov. Net Metering Guide
4
Eversource. Net Metering Frequently Asked Questions
5
Eversource. Massachusetts Interconnections