Revision: Jan. 22, 2019, 10:20 a.m.
SB 205 - AS INTRODUCED
2019 SESSION
19-0911
10/06
SENATE BILL 205
SPONSORS: Sen. Watters, Dist 4; Sen. Kahn, Dist 10; Sen. Chandley, Dist 11; Sen. Dietsch, Dist 9; Sen. Feltes, Dist 15; Sen. Fuller Clark, Dist 21; Sen. Giuda, Dist 2; Sen. Hennessey, Dist 5; Sen. Morgan, Dist 23
COMMITTEE: Energy and Natural Resources
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ANALYSIS
This bill adds requirements for uses of system benefits charges for energy efficiency programs and removes the requirement for legislative approval of system benefits charge changes. The bill also adds a nonvoting member to the energy efficiency and sustainable energy board.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
19-0911
10/06
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nineteen
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Electric Utility Restructuring; Policy Principles; System Benefits Charge. Amend RSA 374-F:3, VI to read as follows:
VI. Benefits for All Consumers. Restructuring of the electric utility industry should be implemented in a manner that benefits all consumers equitably and does not benefit one customer class to the detriment of another. Costs should not be shifted unfairly among customers. A nonbypassable and competitively neutral system benefits charge applied to the use of the distribution system may be used to fund public benefits related to the provision of electricity. Such benefits, as approved by regulators, may include, but not necessarily be limited to, programs for low-income customers, energy efficiency programs, funding for the electric utility industry's share of commission expenses pursuant to RSA 363-A, support for research and development, and investments in commercialization strategies for new and beneficial technologies[. Legislative approval of the New Hampshire general court shall be required to increase the system benefits charge. This requirement of prior approval of the New Hampshire general court shall not apply to the energy efficiency portion of the system benefits charge consistent with or authorized only by Order No. 25,932 issued by the commission, dated August 2, 2016.]; provided, however, that no less than 20 percent of the portion of the funds collected for energy efficiency shall be expended on low-income energy efficiency programs. Energy efficiency programs should include the development of relationships with third-party lending institutions to provide opportunities for low-cost financing of energy efficiency measures to leverage available funds to the maximum extent, and shall also include funding for workforce development to minimize waiting periods for low-income energy audits and weatherization. For purposes of this paragraph:
(a) "Energy efficiency" may include energy audits and renovations and technologies designed to regulate daily energy use in a cost-effective way and to decrease energy use through insulation and other means, and the use of renewable energy and energy storage systems.
(b) "Renewable energy" shall include but not be limited to solar, wind, and geothermal energy generation.
(c) "Energy storage system" means any commercially available, customer-sited system, including batteries and the batteries paired with on-site generation, that is capable of retaining, storing, and delivering energy by chemical, thermal, mechanical, or other means.
2 New Subparagraph; Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Energy Board; Nonvoting Member Added. Amend RSA 125-O:5-a, III by inserting after subparagraph (d) the following new subparagraph:
(e) A representative of the New Hampshire Bankers Association, appointed by the chairman of the public utilities commission.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.