Revision: March 27, 2014, midnight
HB 1602 – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
25Mar2014… 0781h
2014 SESSION
06/10
HOUSE BILL 1602
AN ACT relative to the divestiture of PSNH assets.
SPONSORS: Rep. Borden, Rock 24; Rep. Kaen, Straf 5; Rep. Rappaport, Coos 1; Rep. Backus, Hills 19; Rep. Devine, Rock 4; Rep. Cali-Pitts, Rock 30; Sen. Fuller Clark, Dist 21
COMMITTEE: Science, Technology and Energy
This bill:
I. Authorizes the public utilities commission to determine whether PSNH generation assets should be divested or retired.
II. Permits the public utilities commission to order PSNH to divest all or some of its generation assets.
III. Adds certain costs associated with the divestiture of PSNH generation assets to stranded costs.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
25Mar2014… 0781h
14-2417
06/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fourteen
AN ACT relative to the divestiture of PSNH assets.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Divestiture of PSNH Generation Assets. Amend RSA 369-B:3-a to read as follows:
369-B:3-a Divestiture of PSNH Generation Assets. [The sale of PSNH fossil and hydro generation assets shall not take place before April 30, 2006.]
I. Before July 1, 2014, the commission shall commence and expedite a proceeding to determine whether all or some of PSNH’s generation assets should be divested or retired. On or before December 31, 2014 the commission shall submit a progress report to the legislative committee on electric utility restructuring established under RSA 374-F:5. Notwithstanding RSA 374:30, [subsequent to April 30, 2006,] the commission may order PSNH [may] to divest or retire all or some of its generation assets if the commission finds that it is in the economic interest of retail customers of PSNH to do so, and provides for the cost recovery of such divestiture.
II. Prior to any divestiture of its generation assets, PSNH may modify or retire such generation assets if the commission finds that it is in the [public] economic interest of retail customers of PSNH to do so, and provides for the cost recovery of such modification or retirement.
2 Definitions; Stranded Costs. Amend RSA 374-F:2, IV to read as follows:
IV. “Stranded costs” means costs, liabilities, and investments, such as uneconomic assets, that electric utilities would reasonably expect to recover if the existing regulatory structure with retail rates for the bundled provision of electric service continued and that will not be recovered as a result of restructured industry regulation that allows retail choice of electricity suppliers, unless a specific mechanism for such cost recovery is provided. Stranded costs may only include costs of:
(a) Existing commitments or obligations incurred prior to the effective date of this chapter;
(b) Renegotiated commitments approved by the commission; [and]
(c) New mandated commitments approved by the commission, including any specific expenditures authorized for stranded cost recovery pursuant to any commission-approved plan to implement electric utility restructuring in the territory previously serviced by Connecticut Valley Electric Company, Inc.; and
(d) Costs approved for recovery by the commission in connection with the divestiture of PSNH generation assets pursuant to RSA 369-B:3-a.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.