NH legislature expected to attempt override vote of Gov. Sununu’s net metering veto
New Hampshire Gov. Sununu recently vetoed a bill passed by the state legislature that would raise the net metering limit in the state, but a veto override vote is expected.
New Hampshire HB 365 would raise the net metering limit from 1 to 5 megawatts (MW). It was introduced by a bipartisan group of sponsors.
Gov. Sununu believes the bill would benefit only large-scale developments.
“This bill is a regressive cost burden on citizens that benefits large-scale solar developers while hurting all ratepayers,” Gov. Sununu said in a June 3 statement. “We should not allow our good intentions to mask a bad policy. We should not force our ratepayers to massively subsidize those who can afford to construct 40-acre solar farms.”
To overturn the veto, both chambers of the New Hampshire legislature would have to pass the bill by two-thirds. The bill passed the House 254-98, but the Senate vote was done by voice vote so it’s not clear if it could override the veto.
Supporters of the bill said the bill would encourage large renewable projects in the state. Senate Majority Leader Dan Feltes disagreed with the veto: “Governor Sununu is holding New Hampshire back from making progress on clean energy jobs, lowering electric rates and property taxes, and building a better future for our children,” Feltes said in a statement.
A 5 MW limit would allow for many large-scale projects on an industrial or municipal level to be eligible for net metering credits, but opponents said solar developers would benefit at the cost of New Hampshire residents and businesses.
The New Hampshire Business and Industry Association (BIA) agreed with Gov. Sununu’s decision to veto the bill.
“We oppose HB 365 because the legislation would result in cost-shifting to the business community since the tariff (or credit) given to net metering customers would be above the utility’s avoided cost,” said BIA President Jim Roche. “That’s unfair to all non-net metering ratepayers.”
The New Hampshire Ratepayers Association also agreed with the decision.
“HB 365 would directly benefit large solar developers at the expense of New Hampshire residents and businesses, who already bear the burden of some of the highest electricity prices in the nation,” said Marc Brown, president of the New England Ratepayers Association. “Why should New Hampshire’s electricity suppliers be forced to pay $80 per megawatt-hour to large solar developers when utilities in other states are entering into contracts with solar developers for less than a third of that price?”
According to the bill’s authors, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission found around 74 MW of generating facilities that might benefit from HB 365, with hydroelectric generation making up around 50 MW of that. The bill would allow customer-exporters to treat exports as offsets or reductions to load, which is an attempt to “mitigate some impacts of the customer-generators receiving default service pricing for their output which currently is about $40/MWh higher on average than the NH locational marginal price they currently are paid for their output.”
During research for the bill, it was found that “the increase in the payments for output for eligible customer-generators could range from $5 million to $10 million annually depending upon market prices and default service rates,” but “some of the increased energy payments could also be offset by those projects now entitled to capacity payments which would be transferred to the electric distribution utility or to a competitive supplier.”
Renewable advocates worry that New Hampshire is falling behind in solar, where only 0.61 percent of all electricity generation within the state is solar (as of 2018), according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Other nearby states are ahead of that number, where Vermont’s electricity generation is 10.98 percent solar, Massachusetts is 10.69 percent solar, and New York is at 1.40 percent solar.
Gov. Sununu vetoed a similar bill last year, and another energy bill is currently making its way through the legislature. HB 168 would amend New Hampshire’s renewable portfolio standards for solar to 5.4 percent by 2025. The current standard is 0.6 percent.
HB 168 was passed by the New Hampshire legislature two days after Gov. Sununu’s veto of HB 365.
