Revision: Dec. 23, 2019, 5:31 p.m.
SB 498 - AS INTRODUCED
2020 SESSION
20-3033
10/06
SENATE BILL 498
AN ACT relative to customer electrical energy storage.
SPONSORS: Sen. Fuller Clark, Dist 21; Sen. Bradley, Dist 3; Rep. McGhee, Hills. 40; Rep. Backus, Hills. 19
COMMITTEE: Energy and Natural Resources
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ANALYSIS
This bill establishes the use by electric utility customers and regulation by the public utilities commission of customer installed behind-the-meter electrical energy storage systems.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
20-3033
10/06
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty
AN ACT relative to customer electrical energy storage.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Chapter; Customer Energy Storage. Amend RSA by inserting after chapter 374-G the following new chapter:
CHAPTER 372-H
CUSTOMER ENERGY STORAGE
374-H:1 Definitions. In this chapter:
I. "Energy storage" means any commercially available system, device, or technology capable of taking electric energy, storing it in some form of usable energy, and using that energy to either convert back into electricity for on-site use or to discharge to the grid, or to displace an electrical or thermal load at a later time.
II. "Commission" means the public utilities commission.
III. "Behind-the-meter storage" means an energy storage project that is installed on a retail electricity customer's premises and is electrically connected to the customer's side of the electric utility meter. Any energy storage not installed on the customer's side of the electric utility meter shall not be behind-the-meter storage, but shall be reserved for installation by utilities.
IV. "Front-of-meter storage" means any energy storage that is not behind-the-meter storage.
V. "Bring your own device" means a program to encourage non-utility owned, and especially retail-customer owned, behind-the-meter energy storage to provide the greatest value possible to the electricity system, particularly in terms of peak reduction and avoided transmission and distribution costs. Such a program shall compensate participating behind-the-meter energy storage for a fair share, as determined by the commission, of the value it provides to the electricity system.
VI. "Non-utility" means any entity that is not a regulated utility that develops, builds, owns, operates, or assists in the operation of one or more energy storage projects, including retail customers that buy behind-the-meter storage installed on their property.
VII. "Peak demand" means the total combined annual coincident peak energy demand of all utility service territories in New Hampshire.
VIII. "Utility" means any regulated entity that distributes electricity to retail customers in New Hampshire.
374-H:2 Customer Energy Storage Systems.
I. The commission shall adopt rules clarifying policy for the installation, interconnection, and use of energy storage systems by customers of utilities, and shall incorporate the following principles into the rules:
(a) It is in the public interest to limit barriers to the installation, interconnection, and use of customer-sited, behind-the-meter energy storage systems in New Hampshire.
(b) New Hampshire's consumers of electricity have a right to install, interconnect, and use energy storage systems on their property, subject to appropriate size and safety requirements established by the commission, without the burden of unnecessary restrictions or regulations and without unduly discriminatory rates or fees.
(c) Utility approval processes and any required interconnection reviews of energy storage systems shall be simple, streamlined, and affordable for customers.
(d) Utilities shall not require the installation of customer-sited meters in addition to a single net energy meter for the purposes of monitoring energy storage systems; except that the commission may authorize the requirement of metering for certain large energy storage systems, as determined by the commission.
(e) The commission may require a utility to compensate a non-utility for a fair share, as determined by the commission, of the value of any transmission or distribution costs the utility is likely to avoid because of the non-utility energy storage project, to the extent practicable based on determinable cost components. The commission may approve mechanisms for a utility to compensate a non-utility for a fair share, as determined by the commission, of the value of any transmission or distribution costs actually avoided because of a non-utility energy storage project, to the extent practicable, based on determinable cost components.
(f) For behind-the-meter storage, the rules or orders shall allow for a bring-your-own-device peak reduction program. As part of such a program, the commission shall create special tariffs or other mechanisms, that ensure utilities compensate such projects for a fair share, as determined by the commission, of their peak reduction value, as well as the value of all transmission or distribution costs the utility will likely avoid because of such projects. The commission may approve mechanisms for utilities to compensate such projects for a fair share, as determined by the commission, of their peak reduction value, as well as any transmission or distribution costs actually avoided because of the non-utility energy storage project, to the extent practicable based on determinable cost components.
(g) Utilities shall not own behind-the-meter battery storage, with the exception of the energy storage pilot approved by the commission in order number 26,209, including phase 2 of the pilot, unless the commission finds, after the pilot has been fully implemented, that additional utility ownership of behind-the-meter battery storage would be in the public interest and would not unreasonably encumber the deployment of non-utility behind-the-meter battery storage.
II. Nothing in this section alters or supersedes either:
(a) The principles of net energy metering under RSA 362-A:9; or
(b) Any existing electrical permit requirements or any licensing or certification requirements for installers, manufacturers, or equipment.
2 Electric Generation Equipment Funded by Public Utility; Distributed Energy Resources. Amend RSA 374-G:3, I to read as follows:
I. The energy produced by electric generation equipment owned by the public utility shall be used to benefit low-income customers, as an offset to distribution system losses, or the public utility company's own use;
3 Electric Utility Investment in Distributed Energy Resources. Amend RSA 374-G: 4, II to read as follows.
II. Distributed electric generation owned by or receiving investments from an electric utility under this section shall be limited to a cumulative maximum in megawatts of 6 percent of the utility's total distribution peak load in megawatts. This limitation shall not apply to front-of-meter energy storage, the energy storage pilot approved by commission order number 26,209, or demand response.
4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.