This bill amends RSA 374-G:5, II(f) to enhance the criteria that the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) must consider when evaluating a utility's request for rate recovery related to investments in distributed energy resources. The new legal language inserted into the current law specifies that the PUC must assess the impact on competition within the region's electricity markets and the state's energy services market. This includes examining how utility rates, tariffs, metering, data sharing, consolidated billing, and load estimation processes allow customer-generators and limited producers to receive credit for the value they produce and the costs they avoid, in comparison to the benefits claimed by the utility in its investment proposal.

The bill does not allocate any funding or authorize new positions, and its fiscal impact is projected to be indeterminable for state, county, and local expenditures beyond FY 2025. The PUC has expressed uncertainty regarding the implications of the added provision on its established review processes and the resources required to implement the new criteria. Overall, the bill aims to ensure that the interests of customer-generators and limited producers are adequately considered in the context of utility investments in distributed energy resources.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 374-G:5