This bill proposes a significant transfer of regulatory and adjudicative responsibilities from the public utilities commission to the department of energy, aiming to enhance the department's oversight of energy-related matters. Key amendments include the replacement of references to the "commission" with the "department of energy" in RSA 374-F:4-b, I, which shifts the responsibility for initiating proceedings related to customer communication preferences to the department. Additionally, the bill clarifies that net energy metering tariffs will be established by the department, ensuring consistency with default generation supply service tariffs. It also introduces alternative net energy metering tariffs for eligible customer-generators and assigns the responsibility for calculating assessments against public utilities to the department.

Furthermore, the bill expands the scope of entities that can be subject to complaints by replacing "public utility" with "entity subject to the department's or commission's jurisdictions." It allows individuals to file formal complaints with the Department of Energy after attempting to resolve issues through the consumer services division. The bill revises the complaint investigation and resolution processes, permitting the department to utilize non-adjudicative procedures and adopt rules for complaint resolution. If complaints remain unresolved, they may be dismissed or transferred to the commission for adjudication. The bill also repeals certain provisions related to net metering caps and specifies that complaints regarding municipal and county aggregators will be managed by the department, ultimately aiming to streamline the complaint process without imposing any fiscal impact on state or local budgets.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 374:28-a, 374-F:4-b, 362-A:9, 363-A:3, 365:1, 365:1-a, 365:3, 53-E:7
As Amended by the Senate: 374-F:4-b, 362-A:9, 363-A:3, 365:1, 365:1-a, 365:3, 53-E:7