Bill Text - HB542 (2013)

Relative to electric renewable portfolio standards.


Revision: March 21, 2013, midnight

HB 542 – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

20Mar2013… 0634h

2013 SESSION

13-0590

09/10

HOUSE BILL 542

AN ACT relative to electric renewable portfolio standards.

SPONSORS: Rep. Kaen, Straf 5; Rep. Watrous, Merr 16; Rep. Pastor, Graf 12

COMMITTEE: Science, Technology and Energy

ANALYSIS

This bill makes certain changes to electric renewable portfolio standards and payments to the renewable energy fund.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

20Mar2013… 0634h

13-0590

09/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Thirteen

AN ACT relative to electric renewable portfolio standards.

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

1 Minimum Electric Renewable Portfolio Standards. Amend RSA 362-F:3 to read as follows:

362-F:3 Minimum Electric Renewable Portfolio Standards. For each year specified in the table below, each provider of electricity shall obtain and retire certificates sufficient in number and class type to meet or exceed the following percentages of total megawatt-hours of electricity supplied by the provider to its end-use customers that year, except to the extent that the provider makes payments to the renewable energy fund under RSA 362-F:10, II:

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2025

and thereafter

Class I 0.0% 0.5% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 15% (*)

Class II 0.0% 0.0% 0.04% 0.08% 0.15% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3%

Class III 3.5% 4.5% 5.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% 7.0% 8.0% 8.0%

Class IV 0.5% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1.3% 1.4% 1.5% 1.5%

*Class I increases an additional 0.9 percent per year from 2015 through 2025. A set percentage of the class I totals shall be satisfied annually by the acquisition of renewable energy certificates from qualifying renewable energy technologies producing useful thermal energy as defined in RSA 362-F:2, XV-a. The set percentage shall be 0.2 percent in 2013, 0.4 percent in 2014, and increased annually by 0.2 percent per year from 2015 through 2025. Classes II-IV remain at the same percentages from 2015 through 2025 except as provided in RSA 362-F:4, V-VI.

2 Renewable Energy Fund. Amend RSA 362-F:10, I-V to read as follows:

I. There is hereby established a renewable energy fund. This nonlapsing, special fund shall be continually appropriated to the commission to be expended in accordance with this section. The state treasurer shall invest the moneys deposited therein as provided by law. Income received on investments made by the state treasurer shall also be credited to the fund. All payments to be made under this section shall be deposited in the fund. The moneys paid into the fund under paragraph II of this section, excluding class II moneys, shall be used by the commission to support thermal and electrical renewable energy initiatives. Class II moneys shall [only] primarily be used to support solar energy technologies in New Hampshire. All initiatives supported out of these funds shall be subject to audit by the commission as deemed necessary. All fund moneys including those from class II may be used to administer this chapter, but all new employee positions shall be approved by the fiscal committee of the general court. No new employees shall be hired by the commission due to the inclusion of useful thermal energy in class I production.

II. In lieu of meeting the portfolio requirements of RSA 362-F:3 for a given year if, and to the extent sufficient certificates are not otherwise available at a price below the amounts specified in this paragraph, an electricity provider may, at the time of report submission for that year under RSA 362-F:8, make payment to the commission at the following rates for each megawatt-hour not met for a given class obligation through the acquisition of certificates:

(a) Class I--[$55] $65.43, except for that portion of the class electric renewable portfolio standards to be met by qualifying renewable energy technologies producing useful thermal energy under RSA 362-F:3 which shall be $25 beginning January 1, 2013.

(b) Class II--[$55] $171.83.

(c) Class III--[$31.50] $32.08.

(d) Class IV--[$26.50] $32.08.

III. Beginning in [2013] 2014, the commission shall adjust these rates by January 31 of each year using the Consumer Price Index as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor [for classes III and IV and 1/2 of such Index for classes I and II].

IV. The commission shall make an annual report by October 1 of each year, beginning in 2009, to the legislative oversight committee on electric utility restructuring under RSA 374-F:5 detailing how the renewable energy fund is being used and any recommended changes to such use. The report shall also include information on the total peak generating capacity that is net energy metered under RSA 362-A:9 within the franchise area of each electric distribution utility, and the percentage this represents of the amount that is allowed to be net metered within each franchise area.

V. The public utilities commission shall make and administer a one-time incentive payment of $3 per watt of nominal generation capacity up to a maximum payment of $6,000, or 50 percent of system costs, whichever is less, per facility to any residential owner of a small renewable generation facility, that would qualify as a Class I or Class II source of electricity, has a total peak generation capacity of [less than 5] 10 kilowatts or fewer, begins operation on or after July 1, 2008, and is located on or at the owner’s residence.

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