The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission released their final order on net metering this past summer on Friday, 6/23/17. The order is a mix of the two filed settlement proposals, and is generally reasonable, enabling the industry to remain strong. For consumers, it makes (overall) positive conclusions about cost shifting and the benefits of distributed energy resource (DER). Highlights from the order and listed below. The full order can be found on the PUC’s website here.
Highlights from the report are as follows:
- The new NEM rate begins on September 1, 2017. This date may be later if utilities can’t update their billing systems in time to reflect the new NEM regime. Customers must be given 30 days notice in advance of the new rate start date.
- Grandfathering – all existing NEM systems are still grandfathered through 2040. NEW systems (under new rate) also grandfathered through 2040.
- Small systems ≤100 kW are still credited monthly at 100% of retail energy and transmission charges but only 25% of distribution charge; the customer will receive monetary bill credits instead of kWh credits (allowing cash payment if customer moves or annual credit balance exceeds $100)
- Large systems >100kW are still credited monthly at the default energy rate; bill credits now monetary instead of kWh.
- All customer-generators must pay non-bypassable charges (system benefits, stranded cost recovery, storm recovery) based on full amount of electricity imports without netting exports.
- Monthly Netting is maintained – all non-bypassable charges are still netted on a monthly billing basis.
- Value of DER Study: Eversource must perform a marginal cost of service study within twelve months (of Order date) to inform the Value of DER study. Value of DER study will focus on solar and small hydro and use a 10-15 year framework for the analysis. Staff will direct/manage the study, hire a consultant to help perform it, and will begin by convening a workgroup to develop scope of study within two months’ time of this Order.
- Statewide Cap- No new cap was set (so effectively the cap has been removed).
- Pilots – Four pilot programs are approved, including: Time-of-Use (Eversource and Unitil only), shared bill credits for low/moderate income customers, Real-Time-Pricing for one municipality (Lebanon), and a non-wires alternative pilot.
- 20% Onsite Use – If a customer-generator uses at least 20% of the system generation onsite, then they can receive the group net metering rates without registering as a group host and going through the GNM protocol with the PUC, etc.
Practical bill impacts for a customer-generator with solar PV:
- Customer Charge (per month): $12.89 (unchanged)
- Energy Charge (per kWh): 11.17 cents (still 100%)
- Transmission Charge (per kWh): 2.39 cents (still 100%)
- Distribution Charge (per kWh): 4.21 cents (now 25% = 1.05 cents)
- Stranded Cost Recovery Charge (per kWh): 0.032 cents (no netting)
- System Benefits Charge (per kWh): 0.356 cents (no netting)
- Electricity Consumption Tax (per kWh): 0.055 cents (repealed in state budget)
- Current net metering credit value (systems ≤100kw): 18.16 cents (excl. repealed tax)
- New net metering credit value (≤100kW): 14.61 cents (80% current)
- Difference = 3.55 cents (20% loss)
Questions in the order requiring response within 30 days (PUC will facilitate):
- Should the subsequent sale of solar array or property on which it is installed entitle the new owner to continue to be net-metered under the grandfathered tariff provisions?
- Should the subsequent expansions of/modifications to solar array be entitled to net metering under the grandfathered tariff provisions?
Again, for the full report, click here.
For further questions feel free to contact us at any time and we’ll talk you through whatever you’ve got on your mind related to net metering or anything to do with solar energy.
*Information culled from New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association
