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1 Findings and Purpose. The general court finds that:
I. The cost of electricity supply in New Hampshire is higher than the national average and continues to create an economic burden on the state's citizens and businesses.
II. The cost of electricity in New England is driven by a number of factors, including the retirements of baseload generation resources, lack of adequate natural gas capacity in the winter, and increases in the cost of natural gas due to international factors.
III. The retention of and development of reliable sources of low-cost electricity supply is critical to stabilizing and reducing the cost of electricity in New Hampshire.
IV. Market volatility is harming New Hampshire's residents and businesses.
V. To ensure that New Hampshire ratepayers can benefit from cost-effective energy sources, the general court finds that it is appropriate to allow the electric distribution utilities to issue requests for proposals to provide more diverse and long-term options for providing energy service to customers.
2 Proposals for Multi-Year Agreements; Addition of Department of Energy. Amend the introductory language of RSA 374-F:11, I to read as follows:
I. Investor-owned electric distribution utilities may elect to develop and, no later than June 30, 2025, issue a request for proposals for multi-year agreements for energy, in conjunction with or independent of any attendant environmental attributes from electric energy sources.
3 Purchased Power Agreements. Amend RSA 374-F:11, I(g) to read as follows:
(g) All megawatt hours procured through agreements made pursuant to this section shall come from new, or incremental electric energy sources.
4 New Subparagraph; Purchased Power Agreements. Amend RSA 374-F:11, I(h) by inserting after subparagraph (2) the following new subparagraph:
(3) "Existing electric energy sources" means all sources that currently provide energy to the ISO-NE regional markets, including nuclear power generation facilities located in the ISO-NE control area that commenced commercial operation before January 1, 2011.
5 Purchased Power Agreements. Amend the introductory language of RSA 374-F:11, II through II(a) to read as follows:
II. Any investor-owned electric distribution utility electing to enter into an agreement pursuant to this section shall petition the public utilities commission for authorization to enter the agreement no later than June 30, 2026.
(a) Upon the petition of one or more electric distribution utilities, and after notice and hearing, the public utilities commission may authorize such utility or utilities to enter into multi-year agreements with new or incremental electric energy sources up to a total of 2 million megawatt hours statewide, on an annual basis, if it finds such agreements to be just and reasonable and in the public interest.
6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
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1 Findings and Purpose. The general court finds that:
I. The cost of electricity supply in New Hampshire is higher than the national average and continues to create an economic burden on the state's citizens and businesses.
II. The cost of electricity in New England is driven by a number of factors, including the retirements of baseload generation resources, lack of adequate natural gas capacity in the winter, and increases in the cost of natural gas due to international factors.
III. The retention of and development of reliable sources of low-cost electricity supply is critical to stabilizing and reducing the cost of electricity in New Hampshire.
IV. Market volatility is harming New Hampshire's residents and businesses.
V. To ensure that New Hampshire ratepayers can benefit from cost-effective energy sources, the general court finds that it is appropriate to allow the electric distribution utilities to issue requests for proposals to provide more diverse and long-term options for providing energy service to customers.
2 Proposals for Multi-Year Agreements; Addition of Department of Energy. Amend the introductory language of RSA 374-F:11, I to read as follows:
I. Investor-owned electric distribution utilities and the department of energy may elect to develop and issue a request for proposals for multi-year agreements for energy, in conjunction with or independent of any attendant environmental attributes from electric energy sources.
3 Purchased Power Agreements. Amend RSA 374-F:11, I(g) to read as follows:
(g) All megawatt hours procured through agreements made pursuant to this section shall come from existing, new, or incremental electric energy sources.
4 New Subparagraph; Purchased Power Agreements. Amend RSA 374-F:11, I(h) by inserting after subparagraph (2) the following new subparagraph:
(3) "Existing electric energy sources" means all sources that currently provide energy to the ISO-NE regional markets, including nuclear power generation facilities located in the ISO-NE control area that commenced commercial operation before January 1, 2011.
5 Purchased Power Agreements. Amend the introductory language of RSA 374-F:11, II through II(a) to read as follows:
II. Any investor-owned electric distribution utility electing to enter into an agreement pursuant to this section shall petition the public utilities commission for authorization to enter the agreement .
(a) Upon the petition of one or more electric distribution utilities, and after notice and hearing, the public utilities commission may authorize such utility or utilities to enter into multi-year agreements with existing, new , or incremental electric energy sources up to a total of 2 million megawatt hours statewide, on an annual basis, if it finds such agreements to be just and reasonable and in the public interest.
6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.