Bill Text: NH HB1481 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Relative to the net metering cap for customer-generators.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-09-23 - Died on Table [HB1481 Detail]

Download: New_Hampshire-2020-HB1481-Introduced.html

HB 1481 - AS INTRODUCED

 

 

2020 SESSION

20-2626

10/06

 

HOUSE BILL 1481

 

AN ACT relative to the net metering cap for customer-generators.

 

SPONSORS: Rep. Plumer, Belk. 6; Rep. Pearl, Merr. 26; Rep. Costable, Rock. 3; Rep. Lang, Belk. 4

 

COMMITTEE: Science, Technology and Energy

 

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ANALYSIS

 

This bill allows an electric utility customer-generator with a generating capacity of over one megawatt to net meter generation of 125 percent of its average monthly electric demand.

 

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

20-2626

10/06

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty

 

AN ACT relative to the net metering cap for customer-generators.

 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 

1  Findings; The general court finds that:

I.  Commercial and industrial customers should be able to build appropriately sized generating facilities to serve their own electrical needs, with a fair credit offered for any excess energy produced.

II.  Credits for excess energy shall be designed in a manner that avoids undue cost shifting and does not adversely affect other rate classes.

2  Limited Electrical Energy Producers; Definition; Eligible Customer-generator.  Amend RSA 362-A:1-a, II-b to read as follows:

II-b.  "Eligible customer-generator" or "customer-generator" means an electric utility customer who owns, operates, or purchases power from an electrical generating facility either powered by renewable energy or which employs a heat led combined heat and power system, with a total peak generating capacity of up to and including one megawatt, or 125 percent of the customer’s average monthly peak electric demand over the past 12 months, if greater than one megawatt, that is located behind a retail meter on the customer's premises, is interconnected and operates in parallel with the electric grid, and is used to offset the customer's own electricity requirements.  Incremental generation added to an existing generation facility, that does not itself qualify for net metering, shall qualify if such incremental generation meets the qualifications of this paragraph and is metered separately from the nonqualifying facility.

3  Net Energy Metering; Charges.  Amend RSA 362-A:9, IV(b) to read as follows:

(b)  For facilities with a total peak generating capacity of more than 100 kilowatts, but not more than 1 megawatt, the customer-generator shall pay all applicable charges on all kilowatt hours supplied to the customer over the electric distribution system, less a credit on default service charges equal to the metered energy generated by the customer-generator and fed into the electric distribution system over a billing period.

(c)  For facilities with a total peak generating capacity of greater than one megawatt, the customer-generator shall pay all applicable charges on all kilowatt hours supplied to the customer over the electric distribution system, less an avoided cost credit equal to the metered energy generated by the customer-generator and fed into the electric distribution system over a billing period.

4  Net Energy Metering; Group Host Requirements.  Amend RSA 362-A:9, XIV(a) to read as follows:

XIV.(a)  A customer-generator with a total peak generating capacity of not more than one megawatt may elect to become a group host for the purpose of reducing or otherwise controlling the energy costs of a group of customers who are not customer-generators.  The group of customers shall be located within the service territory of the same electric distribution utility as the host.  The host shall provide a list of the group members to the commission and the electric distribution utility and shall certify that all members of the group have executed an agreement with the host regarding the utilization of kilowatt hours produced by the eligible facility and that the total historic annual load of the group members together with the host exceeds the projected annual output of the host's facility.  The commission shall verify that these group requirements have been met and shall register the group host.  The commission shall establish the process for registering hosts, including periodic re-registration, and the process by which changes in membership are allowed and administered.  Net metering tariffs under this section shall not be made available to a customer-generator group host until such host is registered by the commission.

5  New Paragraph; Limited Electrical Energy Producers Act; Net Energy Metering.  Amend RSA 362-A:9 by inserting after paragraph XIX the following new paragraph:

XX.(a)  No later than 30 days after the effective date of this paragraph, the commission shall initiate a new proceeding to determine whether to modify the credit specified in subparagraph IV(c).  The commission may consider the findings of studies or investigations under docket DE 16-576 and credit methodologies used in other states for systems of similar size.

(b)  The commission shall issue an order approving or adopting a credit rate within 10 months of the effective date of this paragraph.

6  Utility Property Tax; Eligible Customer-Generator; Exclusion Clarified.  Amend RSA 83-F:1, V(d) to read as follows:

(d)  The electrical generation, production, storage, and supply equipment of an "eligible customer-generator" as defined in RSA 362-A:1-a, II-b, up to and including one megawatt;

7  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

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