Update on Energy Bills in NH
Clean Energy New Hampshire (CENH) provides the following update on energy bills in the NH Legislature:
| As of July 22 “Governor Sununu has acted on three bills related to clean energy: SB168 was vetoed. This bill would have increased the requirement for solar energy under the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) incrementally each year until 2025. The current goals listed under the RPS are very small compared to our neighboring states. This bill was significant to help stabilize the market for Renewable Energy Credits and continue to promote the development of solar. Clean Energy NH supported this bill; the Governor’s veto is a negative result. SB165 was signed. This bill, also known as the “Low-Income Community Solar Act of 2019”, enables on-bill crediting for group net metering customers, establishes an adder for qualifying low-income community solar projects, and requires the Public Utilities Commission to authorize two new low-moderate income community solar projects in each utility service territory beginning in 2020. CENH supported this bill and the Governor’s signature is a good result. SB205 was vetoed. This bill would have extended the ability for the Public Utilities Commission to approve raising the System Benefits Charge for the Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS) with approval of the general court fiscal committee but without the approval of the full general court. This is important for the next iteration of the EERS to move forward in a timely manner. The bill also made some minor modifications to the charges of Energy Efficiency & Sustainable Energy (EESE) Board, which would have enabled the Board to serve as a stakeholder forum that makes recommendations to efficiency program administrators. CENH supported this bill and the Governor’s signature is a negative result.” |
As of July 19
Vetoed: HB365 (to raise the net metering ca), SB72 (to eliminate REC sweeping), SB307 (to enable towns to invest in more advanced outdoor lighting), SB275 (to make all state vehicles zero-emission by 2039)
Signed: HB156 (study commission on a state energy dept.), SB24 (re-authorizing RGGI), HB562 (updating building codes)
Bills Awaiting Action:SB168 (to increase solar under the RPS), SB165(promoting low-income community solar),SB286 (relative to municipal aggregation), HB582 (directing RGGI rebates to efficiency), SB167 (clean energy resource rocurement commission)
To track progress of these and other energy bills in New Hampshire, visit CENH’s website at https://www.cleanenergynh.org/energy-bills
