Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Make a sustaining gift today to support local journalism!

Sununu vetoes net metering expansion for industrial customers, with legislative error partially to blame

Electric grid: Utility lines, towers
Dan Tuohy
/
NHPR
A legislative error in the bill accidentally removed all size limits on net metering, except the ones for municipalities and industrial hosts.

An effort to help businesses that choose to build renewable energy facilities to power their operations has hit a roadblock at the State House, and a legislative typo is in part to blame.

The bill would have allowed businesses, industrial facilities, or institutions to be compensated for power produced through a renewable generation system, like solar panels, up to 5 megawatts. That’s known as net metering.

In New Hampshire, the limit for net metering is one megawatt, except for municipalities, which are allowed to go up to 5.

But a legislative error in the bill accidentally removed all size limits on net metering, except the ones for municipalities and industrial hosts. Gov. Chris Sununu said that made it unacceptable and vetoed the measure.

Sununu also said he was worried that the legislation, more broadly, would have risked shifting costs away from businesses onto lower-income customers. He noted that state regulators are currently going through a process to consider changes to net metering in the state.

As part of that process, Public Utilities Commissioners are reviewing a study that addresses questions around cost-shifting related to net metering and provides calculations around net metering’s potential value.

“This proceeding will inform our understanding of the extent that net metering shifts costs among ratepayers and arrive at an appropriate rate of compensation for customer-generators,” Sununu said in his veto message. “At that point, we may be able to feel much more confident that an expansion of net metering will not negatively impact our most vulnerable citizens.”

Republican Sen. Timothy Lang, who introduced the legislation, said it wasn't his intention to remove the limits on net metering. He supports the governor’s veto and is planning to submit the bill again.

Mara Hoplamazian reports on climate change, energy, and the environment for NHPR.
Related Content

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.