Some 70 energy and utility bills are making their way through the State House this session. Several champion New Hampshire’s expansion into renewable energy while others look to repeal long-standing measures.
New Hampshire has etched out progress in energy over the past few years: The state’s last two coal-fired plants have stopped burning fuel, and the state has transitioned into producing biomass and hydropower. It also expanded its solar generation capacity to share energy with more communities through net metering.
The average energy rate in the state, however, is over six cents higher than the United States average, and New Hampshire still lags behind its regional neighbors when it comes to transitioning to renewable energy.
Here’s a look at some bills that energy advocates and legislators have their eyes on.
SB 449 and SB 538
Both bipartisan bills relate to net metering, a special meter given to participating customers that measures the difference between their utility’s electric supply and the supply from a local renewable energy source.
SB 449 proposes to expand the eligibility requirement of net metering to allow large commercial or institutional energy generators to act as members. SB 538 aims to finance net meters for 20 years, making it more affordable.
Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, said both bills have been through the State House multiple times before, but a reluctance by some lawmakers to adopt clean energy has stalled their progress.
“I think there’s a willingness to work together to take incremental steps to increase our capacity and maybe slightly our net metering scope, but there are still a lot of legislators that are more interested in traditional fossil fuel sources,” she said.
The Senate heard both bills on Jan. 13.
HB 1002
This partisan bill would override a 50-year-old tax exemption for property owners who have solar infrastructure.
Municipalities currently have the option of adopting the exemption, and about two-thirds of New Hampshire’s cities and towns having done so, as of 2024. These exemptions totaled about $142.7 million that year.
Packy Campbell, owner of Farmington-based solar tracking company Bright Spot Solar, said the bill would cause “all kinds of problems” for the solar industry and consumers.
He doesn’t think the bill will progress, but “if it did, it would make it so no one would do solar. It would kill all these small solar companies in New Hampshire, all these clean energy jobs.”
Campbell said that, by excluding the value of a solar array from the total property valuation, the exemption protects property owners from paying “exorbitant” property taxes.
The House tabled the bill in a 187-157 vote last week.
HB 723
This bill aims to eliminate the requirements for electric companies to contribute to a statewide energy data platform.
In 2019, the legislature approved a bill requiring the state to develop a multi-use platform where companies would upload their energy prices to allow for more consumer choice. Spurred by the cost of developing and operating the platform, Republican lawmakers proposed HB 723 to repeal that requirement.
Sam Evans-Brown, executive director of Clean Energy NH, said his nonprofit and other stakeholders have been meeting since a governance council was ordered to form in 2022 to oversee and discuss the platform’s creation.
“We have spent years and years and years and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer and rate payer money to think through how to create the data platform, and on the eve of it being completed […] we’re now going to repeal the requirement,” Evans-Brown said.
Addressing concerns with operation costs, Evans-Brown said a cost-benefit analysis completed by his nonprofit and other stakeholders showed that the upfront investment would yield nearly triple the savings down the line.
The bill is making its way through the State House quickly, with majorities in both the House and Senate recommending that it pass.
“I would urge the Governor to veto this bill, because it is absolutely reflective of the type of policy uncertainty that I think drives businesses crazy in New Hampshire,” Evans-Brown said.