HB 159 - AS INTRODUCED
2023 SESSION
23-0710
10/05
HOUSE BILL 159
AN ACT relative to the default service rate for electricity.
SPONSORS: Rep. McWilliams, Merr. 30; Sen. Watters, Dist 4; Sen. Perkins Kwoka, Dist 21
COMMITTEE: Science, Technology and Energy
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ANALYSIS
This bill establishes a 5-year rolling average to recalculate the default electric service rate for electric utility customers.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
23-0710
10/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Three
AN ACT relative to the default service rate for electricity.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Electric Utilities; Restructuring Policy Principles; Default Service Rate. Amend RSA 374-F:3, V(c) to read as follows:
(c) Default service [should] shall be designed to provide a safety net and to assure universal access and system integrity. Default service [should] shall be procured through the competitive market and may be administered by independent third parties. The costs of the procured power shall be recovered from retail ratepayers based upon a rate calculated by using the rolling 5-year average of the retail rates for the New England region as posted by ISO-New England. The base year for the 5-year average shall be the rate on January 1, 2017. The 5-year rolling average shall be recalculated on or before January 10 of each succeeding year. The rates charged to retail customers shall not exceed the rolling 5-year rate subject only to the annual recalculation of the 5-year average. Any prudently incurred costs arising from compliance with the renewable portfolio standards of RSA 362-F for default service or purchased power agreements shall be recovered through the default service charge. The allocation of the costs of administering default service should be borne by the customers of default service in a manner approved by the commission. If the commission determines it to be in the public interest, the commission may implement measures to discourage misuse, or long-term use, of default service. Revenues, if any, generated from such measures should be used to defray stranded costs.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.