This bill reenacts and amends RCW 80.60.010 and adds new sections to chapter 80.60 RCW and chapter 80.28 RCW, and amends RCW 64.38.055 and RCW 64.90.510. It creates a new legal category and regulatory treatment for "portable solar generation devices," defines technical and certification requirements for those devices (including NEC compliance, integrated anti-islanding/rapid shutdown per UL 1741/IEEE 1547 as of January 1, 2026, UL 3700 certification, a maximum output of 1,200 watts, and UL 3141 if coupled with storage), and exempts such portable devices from the chapter 80.60 interconnection and net metering requirements while requiring customers to notify their electric utility before installation. The bill makes it a per se violation of the state deceptive practices statute (chapter 19.86 RCW) to sell or advertise a portable solar generation device that does not meet the statutory technical standards, and allows electric utilities with fewer than 25,000 customers to prohibit portable devices. The bill also amends homeowner association and common interest community rules. Associations may not ban installation or display of certain flags, political signs, or the installation of solar energy panels or portable solar generation devices that meet specified health, safety, permitting, certification, and performance standards, although associations may adopt reasonable time, place, and manner rules and certain appearance or visibility conditions (including limited painting, attachment, or shielding requirements and indemnity/reimbursement obligations for damage). A new section creates a framework for customer-owned meter-mounted devices installed between the meter and meter socket: utilities must allow one device per meter if installed per the NEC by a licensed electrician, must approve or disapprove model approvals within 90 days for larger utilities and 180 days for smaller utilities, maintain a public list of approved models, may remove noncompliant devices and charge customers for related work, and must implement these provisions within six months of the section’s effective date; local governments may not prohibit such installations and utilities are not liable for damage attributable to compliant installations. The bill directs the utilities commission to permit electrical and natural gas companies to make cost-effective investments in single-family and multifamily rental housing to reduce customer energy burden and to earn a return on those investments, with priority given to low-income, vulnerable, and highly impacted communities. Those investments may be secured through the meter and recovered on customer bills (including a required line-item labeled "energy savings charge"), subject to notice requirements to tenants at least 30 days before installation, and other recovery and contractual provisions described in the bill. Several sections of the act and timing provisions are referenced (for example, Section 103 expires January 1, 2028, and Section 301 takes effect January 1, 2029), but the extracted text is incomplete in places (including portions of the RCW 64.38.055 amendment, the bill header items listed but not included, and full text of some referenced sections), so additional provisions, effective dates, or limitations may exist in unprovided portions of the bill.

If enacted, owners and residents will be able to buy and use small, moveable solar kits and meter-mounted devices with fewer barriers: portable solar units that meet specified safety and certification standards no longer have to go through the usual interconnection or net metering processes (but the customer must notify their utility first), and homeowner associations cannot ban compliant rooftop panels or portable devices though they can set limited visibility, placement, painting, or shielding rules and require installers to indemnify the association for damage. Utilities must allow one customer-owned meter-mounted device per meter if it meets National Electrical Code and testing lab listings, and must adopt an approval process with firm timelines (90 days for larger utilities, 180 for smaller) and a public approved-model list; utilities can remove noncompliant devices and bill customers for removal or repairs and are generally not liable for damage from compliant devices. Manufacturers who sell noncompliant portable solar devices face per se deceptive-practice violations, and electric utilities serving fewer than 25,000 customers may still ban portable devices. The bill also lets electric and natural gas companies invest in energy-saving upgrades for singleand multi-family rental housing and recover those investments through regular utility billing, labeled as an "energy savings charge"; companies must prioritize low-income, vulnerable, and highly impacted communities, secure recovery through the meter or site-specific owner agreements, and owners must notify tenants at least 30 days before installations. This shifts a funding option and recovery responsibility toward utilities and tenants/owners (including successor tenants) and creates a new billed line item, but key procedural and timing details are incomplete in the available text (some sections are truncated and effective dates for parts of the act are not shown), so the exact rollout and consumer protections remain partly unclear.