CHAPTER 362-A LIMITED ELECTRICAL ENERGY PRODUCERS ACT
Section 362-A:2-b
362-A:2-b Authorization of Pilots. –
I. In this section, the terms "capacity commitment period," "capacity supply obligation," "coincident peak demand," and "load-serving entity (LSE)" shall have the meanings as used by ISO New England, Inc. (ISO-NE).
II. The public utilities commission is authorized to approve one or more proposed pilots of the concepts expressed in this section through orders issued pursuant to adjudicated proceedings in which a pilot is proposed, without the need to adopt any administrative rules of general application for such pilots.
III. Before approving any pilots authorized in paragraph II, the commission shall open a docket to determine definitively whether any jurisdictional conflicts exist concerning the use of the distribution or transmission system, including a determination about whether the activities allowed by this chapter would require a utility to violate its transmission owners operators agreement or require a recalculation of any ISO-NE open access transmission tariffs, and whether such projects produce avoided transmission cost savings. Upon successful resolution of these questions, the commission may approve pilot projects.
IV. Pilot projects shall be subject to the following limits:
(a) Projects shall be limited to 5 megawatts in overall size.
(b) No more than 2 pilots shall be permitted for any utility.
(c) Pilot projects shall end no later than 10 years from their initiation.
(d) Each pilot project shall deliver a study 2 years after project initiation to report to the commission on the consumer benefits of the project.
(e) A utility shall not be eligible to file for approval of a second pilot at the public utilities commission until one year has passed since the filing for approval of the utility's initial pilot.
V. The commission may waive any existing provisions of RSA 362-A:2-a, utility tariffs, or administrative rules in its authorization of any pilots approved pursuant to this section.
VI. If any pilot approved under this section terminates prior to December 31, 2040, any limited producer participating in such pilot may continue to be interconnected and take service as a customer-generator under RSA 362-A:9 pursuant to any net metering or group net metering tariff to which they would have otherwise been eligible at the start of the pilot absent participation in the pilot or any other available option under law or applicable tariffs in effect at the time of termination of the pilot.
VII. Each electric distribution utility may propose and participate in 2 pilots, in conjunction with a competitive electric power supplier or municipal or county aggregation, pursuant to RSA 53-E, operating as or in conjunction with a load-serving entity. The commission may approve provisions to cover incremental costs of the utility related to any such approved pilot. The public utilities commission may approve utility participation in a pilot for transactive energy and distributed energy resources, and the associated advanced metering infrastructure, as components of grid modernization if the jurisdictional conflicts under paragraph III are successfully resolved.
VIII. If approved pursuant to this section, a limited producer of electrical energy may sell its produced electrical energy to one or more purchasers other than the franchise electric utility. Such purchasers may be any non-residential retail electricity customers located within the same New Hampshire electric distribution utility franchise area where the limited producer is located, or any electricity suppliers serving retail load within such area.
IX. Intrastate sales of electricity across the distribution grid under an approved pilot shall be facilitated and accounted for by load-serving entities that are either competitive electricity suppliers registered with the department under RSA 374-F:7, or municipal or county aggregations under RSA 53-E operating as or in conjunction with load-serving entities. Electric distribution utility provided default energy service shall not be required to facilitate, account for, or otherwise enable the participation of limited producers in sales of electricity or purchases of power from limited producers.
X. To participate in such intrastate sales of electricity over the distribution grid a limited producer must be equipped with a revenue grade interval meter that can accurately measure hourly imports from and exports to the distribution grid and report such meter data to the distribution utility for daily load settlement purposes. Exports to the distribution grid by a limited producer shall be accounted for as reductions or offsets to the load obligation of the load serving entity serving the limited producer for load settlement in the ISO New England wholesale electricity market.
XI. (a) The sponsors of a pilot, including the participating electric distribution utility, may petition the commission to determine, through an adjudicated proceeding, how credits for actual avoided transmission charges are to be made for exports to the distribution grid by limited producers during hours of coincident peak on which transmission costs are allocated to the distribution system . Such credit may be based upon the extent to which such exports to the distribution grid reduce retail loads calculated at the point of interconnection between the distribution system, under state jurisdiction, and transmission facilities, under federal jurisdiction.
(b) Monthly transmission charges incurred by the distribution utility as the transmission network customer may be allocated to the load serving entity for payment by the LSE for all or part of the retail meters within its retail metering subdomain, under terms and conditions approved by the commission. Such allocation shall be made based on the share of the LSE's network load, or the share of its network load by participating meters, at the monthly hour of coincident peak demand on which the applicable monthly transmission charges are incurred in proportion to the utility's applicable total network load. In such an event, the customers within such LSE's metering subdomain shall no longer be subject to the distribution utility's transmission charges, after accounting for any prior period over or under collection of transmission costs, such that there is an equitable allocation of transmission costs accounting for applicable leads and lags in how such costs are incurred and paid for as determined by the commission.
(c) The limited producer or their load serving entity may receive credit or payment for actual avoided transmission charges based on measurement of exports to the distribution grid at the retail meter point without additional credit for avoided line and transformation losses in the distribution and transmission grids to provide some sharing of the benefit of reduced transmission charges with other ratepayers who do not participate in such intrastate electricity sales by limited producers. In such an event, the customers within such LSE's metering subdomain shall continue to the pay the utility's regular transmission charges from which such credits or payments shall be made.
XII. Purchasers of power from limited producers participating in the pilot shall pay for the delivery of such power through tariffs, charges, and rates that are generally applicable to the customer's rate class, except for default energy service charges if not applicable and transmission charges as they may be adjusted pursuant to this section.
XIII. To the extent that limited producers participating in the pilot are exporting power to distribution grid at the annual hour of coincident peak demand on which capacity supply obligations are incurred for any given capacity commitment period and such exports reduce overall capacity supply obligations from what they would otherwise be absent such exports to the grid, such reduced capacity supply obligations shall be assigned to the LSE serving such limited producers as approved by the commission. To the extent such exports to the grid are purchased by the LSE as an intrastate wholesale transaction the LSE may in turn prorate its reduced capacity supply obligation attributable to such exports to reduce the capacity tags for all meters served by it within its applicable meter subdomain at the time of the annual coincident peak demand for the applicable capacity commitment period. To the extent such exports to the grid are sold by the Limited Producer at retail to individual customers such reduced capacity supply obligations attributable to such exports may be assigned to reduce the capacity tags assigned to the meters of such customers, as determined by the LSE serving such customers at the time of the applicable annual hour of coincident peak demand for the applicable capacity commitment period. However, in no case shall the capacity tag assigned to any one retail meter, including that of the limited producer, be reduced below zero.