Bill Text: NH SB518 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

New Hampshire Senate Bill 518 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relative to group host net energy metering for low-income community solar projects, limited electrical energy producers storage systems and private sector sales, outdoor lighting policies, and aggregation of electric utility customers.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-06-16 - Vacated from Committee and Laid on Table, Motion Adopted, Voice Vote; 06/16/2020 Senate Journal 8 [SB518 Detail]

Download: New_Hampshire-2020-SB518-Introduced.html

SB 518 - AS INTRODUCED

2020 SESSION

20-3061

10/06

SENATE BILL 518

AN ACT relative to group host net energy metering for low-income community solar projects, limited electrical energy producers storage systems and private sector sales, outdoor lighting policies, and aggregation of electric utility customers.

SPONSORS: Sen. Feltes, Dist 15; Sen. Kahn, Dist 10; Sen. Watters, Dist 4; Sen. Fuller Clark, Dist 21

COMMITTEE: Energy and Natural Resources

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ANALYSIS

This bill:

I. Adds a requirement for low-moderate income community solar projects receiving credits through group host net energy metering.

II. Adds qualifying storage systems to limited electrical energy production.

III. Allows for the purchase of output of limited producers of electrical energy by the private sector.

IV. Exempts street lighting property and equipment used for public, governmental functions or services from property taxation.

V. Defines how certain payments of electric utility customers in municipal aggregations shall be applied.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

20-3061

10/06

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty

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

1 Group Host Net Energy Metering; Low-Moderate Income Community Solar Projects. Amend RSA 362-A:9, XIV(c) to read as follows:

(c) Notwithstanding paragraph V, a group host shall be paid for its surplus generation at the end of each billing cycle at rates consistent with the credit the group host receives relative to its own net metering under either subparagraph IV(a) or (b) or alternative tariffs that may be applicable pursuant to paragraph XVI. Alternatively, a group host may elect to receive credits on the customer electric bill for each member and the host, with the utility being allowed the most cost-effective method of doing so according to an amount or percentage specified for each member on PUC form 909.09 (Application to Register or Re-register as a Host), along with a 3 cent per kwh addition from July 1, 2019 through July 1, 2021 and a 2.5 cent per kwh addition thereafter, where at least 50 percent of the adder is distributed to the low-moderate income participants, for low-moderate income community solar projects, as defined in RSA 362-F:2, X-a. On or before July 1, 2022, the commission shall report on the costs and benefits of such an addition and the development of the market for low-moderate income community solar projects, and provide a recommendation on whether the addition shall be increased or decreased. The commission shall report on the costs and benefits of low-moderate income community solar projects, as defined in RSA 362-F:2, X-a on or before June 1, 2020. The commission shall authorize at least 2 new low-moderate income community solar projects, as defined in RSA 362-F:2, X-a, each year in each utility's service territory beginning January 1, 2020. On an annual basis, for all group host systems except for residential systems with an interconnected capacity under 15 kilowatts, the electric distribution utility shall calculate a payment adjustment if the host's surplus generation for which it was paid is greater than the group's total electricity usage during the same time period. The adjustment shall be such that the resulting compensation to the host for the amount that exceeded the group's total usage shall be at the utility's avoided cost or its default service rate in accordance with subparagraph V(b) or paragraph VI or alternative tariffs that may be applicable pursuant to paragraph XVI. The utility shall pay or bill the host accordingly.

2 Definition; Low-moderate Income Community Solar Project. Amend RSA 362-F:2, X-a to read as follows:

X-a. "Low-moderate income community solar project" means ground-mounted or rooftop solar arrays that directly benefit a group [of at least 5] in which no less than 50 percent of the projected annual load for such project is attributable to residential end-user customers[, where at least a majority of the residential end-user customers are] with income at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty guidelines or one or more affordable housing projects. [No more than 15 percent of the projected load for such project shall be attributable to non-residential end-user customers.] For purposes of this paragraph, "affordable housing project" means any multi-family residential housing project that is one or more of the following:

(a) A federal, state, or local financing program requiring that the real estate remains subject to land use restriction and rental housing affordability covenants that limit allowable rents charged to individuals or families, consistent with RSA 674:58, IV pertaining to workforce housing;

(b) A federal low-income housing tax credit project, as defined in Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;

(c) A project funded with federal grants made to states for low-income housing projects in lieu of low-income housing tax credits under Section 1602 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009;

(d) A rental assistance demonstration public housing conversion under the federal Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2012, as amended;

(e) Affordable housing that meets the applicable requirements of another federal, state, or local program.

(f) A manufactured housing park under RSA 205-A.

3 Definition; Limited Producer. Amend RSA 362-A:1-a, III to read as follows:

III. "Limited producer" or "limited electrical energy producer" means a qualifying small power producer, a qualifying storage system, or a qualifying cogenerator, with a total generating or discharge nameplate or maximum rated capacity of [not more] less than 5 megawatts.

4 New Paragraph; Definition; Qualifying Storage System. Amend RSA 362-A:1-a by inserting after paragraph IX the following new paragraph:

IX-a. "Qualifying storage system” means an electric energy storage system as defined in RSA 72:84.

5 Limited Electrical Energy Producers Act; Purchase of Output by Private Sector. RSA 362-A:2-a is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

362-A:2-a Purchase of Output by Private Sector.

I. A limited producer of electrical energy shall have the authority to sell its produced electrical energy to one or more purchasers other than the franchise electric utility. Such purchaser may be any electricity supplier or retail electricity customer qualified to do business in New Hampshire. The commission shall establish procedures to authorize limited producers, including eligible customer-generators, to sell electricity at wholesale within intrastate commerce and at retail, either directly or indirectly through an electricity supplier, within a single electric distribution utility franchise area where the purchaser or limited producer receives credit for avoided transmission charges if the retail or intrastate wholesale sale of such electricity reduces the retail load measured at the wholesale meter point between the distribution system and transmission facilities under federal jurisdiction such that transmission charges allocated to the distribution utility are reduced from what they otherwise would be absent the electricity produced behind retail meters. Such credit shall be based on measurement of exports to the distribution grid at the retail meter point without additional credit for avoided line and transformation losses between the wholesale and retail meter points to provide a sharing of the benefit of reduced transmission charges from direct retail and intrastate wholesale sales with other ratepayers who do not participate in such sales.

II. Direct retail and intrastate wholesale sales of electricity across the distribution grid shall be facilitated and accounted for by competitive electricity suppliers registered with the commission under RSA 374-F:7, by municipal or county aggregations under RSA 53-E that are load serving entities, or by utility sponsored tariffs that may be offered in conjunction with default energy service. The public utilities commission shall establish such procedures, requirements, and conditions concerning retail and intrastate wholesale sales of electricity pursuant to this section that it deems necessary to:

(a) Protect parties against excessive liability or undue risk; or

(b) Avoid substantial uncompensated cost or risk to the electric utility in whose franchise area the sales takes place; and

III. Purchasers of power from limited producers shall pay for the delivery of such power through tariffs, charges, and rates that are generally applicable to the customer’s rate class, with the exception of utility provided default energy service if not applicable and transmission charges if not applicable pursuant to paragraph I.

IV. Public utilities that distribute electricity under the jurisdiction of the commission shall not report the production of electricity from behind or across retail electricity meters by limited producers, including customer-generators, to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) jurisdictional transmission utilities for load reconstitution purposes or otherwise unless ordered to do so by a court of competent jurisdiction, provided that such limited producer is not registered as a generator or an asset with ISO New England and is thus not authorized to participate in FERC jurisdictional wholesale energy markets. Instead such electricity production on the distribution grid shall be treated as load reduction behind the wholesale meter point for purposes of ISO New England wholesale energy markets and transmission services.

V. Limited producers that first became operational before July 1, 2019 and that have outstanding capacity commitments in the forward capacity market administered by ISO New England may elect to transition to retail and intrastate wholesale sales of electricity on the distribution grid and be treated as a retail load reducer for purposes of wholesale energy markets by retiring from participation in interstate wholesale energy markets administered by ISO New England.

6 New Section; Electric Renewable Portfolio Standard; Exclusion to Amount of Electricity Supplied. Amend RSA 362-F by inserting after section 3 the following new section:

362-F:3-a Exclusions to the Amount of Electricity Supplied. To the extent that a provider of electricity has revenue grade meter data on the quantity of exports to the grid from a qualifying storage system as defined in RSA 362-A:1-a that is charged from the grid, such amounts may be deducted from the calculation of electricity supplied by the provider to its end-use customers for the applicable year for purposes of compliance with RSA 362-F:3 as determined and provided for by the commission.

7 Utility Property Tax; Exclusion From Definition of Utility Property. 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, and of a “limited producer” as defined in RSA 362-A:1-a, III if selling under RSA 362-A:2-a, for facilities with a rated electricity production capacity of up to and including one megawatt;

8 New Hampshire Dark Sky Policy. Amend RSA 9-E:3 to read as follows:

9-E:3 New Hampshire Dark Sky Policy.

I. It shall be the policy of the state of New Hampshire to encourage municipalities to enact such local ordinances and regulations as they deem appropriate to conserve energy consumed by outdoor lighting; to minimize light pollution and glare; and to preserve dark skies as a feature of rural character wherever practicable.

II. To better enable communities to conserve energy consumed by outdoor lighting and carry out dark sky policies, the public utilities commission shall institute proceedings and may approve pilots and tariffs or adopt rules or waivers as it deems necessary to reasonably enable the state, its agencies, subdivisions, and instrumentalities to own and operate outdoor street lights on utility poles under its jurisdiction under RSA 374:34-a or otherwise, including the use of smart adaptive street lighting with networked lighting controls. To the extent technically and economically feasible and consistent with the public good, the commission shall enable the use of revenue grade metering built into networked street lighting controls and may enable the collaborative or shared use of networked street lighting controls and supporting communication systems by utilities and the state, its agencies, subdivisions and instrumentalities for providing additional utility and public services, such as advanced electric and water meter reading, public electric vehicle charging stations, and environmental sensors used for traffic and parking management and public safety.

9 New Section; Street Lighting Exemption. Amend RSA 72 by inserting after section 12-e the following new section:

72:12-f Exemption; Street Lighting. Street lights, including networked street lighting controls, built-in revenue grade metering, supporting communication system hardware, and other connected or networked equipment used to provide public, governmental functions or services, such as environmental sensors and public electric vehicle charging stations, and that are paid for by the state, its agencies, subdivisions, and instrumentalities shall be exempt from taxation as real estate.

10 New Paragraph; Aggregation of Electric Customers; Regulation. Amend RSA 53-E:4 by inserting after paragraph VI the following new paragraph:

VII. For the purposes of billing aggregated retail electricity customers under this chapter and through the consolidated billing function of a distribution utility, when a customer makes a payment for less than the full amount billed, such payment shall be applied as follows:

(a) First to any outstanding customer loans or deposit obligations with the utility;

(b) Next to any utility current payment arrangement obligations;

(d) Next to the aged accounts receivable of any utility and aggregator or competitive electricity supplier serving an aggregation, in proportion to the balance due on such aged accounts receivable;

(e) Next to the current charges of any utility and aggregator or competitive electricity supplier serving an aggregation, in proportion to the balance due on such current charges; and

(f) Finally, to any other charges due on the utility bill as may be provided by utility tariffs.

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