New Hampshire PUC Agrees It Lacks Authority to Sanction Aggregators

The New Hampshire PUC found that it lacks the authority to sanction electric aggregators under its current rules.

The PUC essentially agreed with the legal analysis from Resident Power Natural Gas & Electric Solutions, LLC (see prior story for details on analysis of PUC authority over aggregators)

"It is not clear why the Commission's administrative rules detail notice, customer protection and investigation into allegations of misconduct by aggregators and yet do not include sanctions for wrongdoing. Whether intentional or inadvertent, however, the Commission in this instance does not have authority in its rules to impose sanctions on aggregators," the PUC said.

While the PUC agreed it cannot impose sanctions on an aggregator, it did not dismiss a proceeding relating to Resident Power in light of such finding.

"We do not agree with Resident that because sanctions are not authorized that the docket must be dismissed. As Staff noted, the investigatory provisions of Puc 2005.02 clearly apply to aggregators. The allegations raised by Staff in its February 27, 2013 memorandum are significant and the Commission would be derelict in its duty to protect consumers, if it did not pursue the allegations. The Motion, therefore, is denied. If, after hearing, the Commission were to find that Resident in its role as an aggregator had violated applicable administrative rules, it would seek assurance of corrective action, but would not impose sanctions," the PUC said.