PUC Opens Rulemaking To Address Revised Municipal Aggregation Statutes, POR

The New Hampshire PUC opened a rulemaking to implement recent legislative revisions governing opt-out municipal aggregation

The PUC stated that Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire’s draft initial rules will serve as the initial proposal in the proceeding

Among other things, the Community Power Coalition's draft rules would provide that, "Within 90 days of the effective date of these rules, each electric distribution utility shall propose to the commission for review and approval through an adjudicated proceeding a program for the purchase of receivables of CPAs [community power aggregation] functioning as load serving entities and CEPS [competitive electric power supplier] serving CPA customers consistent with the provisions of RSA 53-E:9."

The Community Power Coalition said on this proposal regarding the timeline for POR proposals that, "such a provision and deadline may be critical to successful launch of CPA programs and implementation of RSA 53-E, as there is no timeframe in which utilities are required to propose POR programs, nor is there specific authority for the Commission to open up a proceeding to require such filing."

"Some CEPS have indicated to some brokers that they will not bid to serve opt-out CPA loads without POR programs in place. RSA 53-E:7, X expressly requires the Commission to adopt rules to implement RSA 53-E, which includes the requirement for utilities to propose POR programs. This gives the utilities 3 months from the adoption of rules to file such required proposals, which is likely to prove to be more than 6 months after the initial rule proposal is filed, and well over a year since the utilities agreed to such a requirement as part of the House negotiations around HB 315 last winter," the Community Power Coalition said

The draft rules also address the filing of aggregation plans with the PUC, and the provision of data by utilities to municipal aggregations, both before service to customers begins, and after the start of service.

DRM 21-135, DRM 21-142