Last month, New Hampshire's energy sector got its first look at a study that could hint at how the state handles small-scale renewables like rooftop solar panels.
Residents, businesses or municipalities with limited energy resources can be compensated for excess energy fed back into the grid through grid exchange. And next January, the state Public Utilities Commission will begin a new process to review how those customers are compensated.
Currently, New Hampshire customers who meter their electricity may pay the equivalent of the standard electricity rate plus a 25% transmission and distribution fee.
Don Criss, the state's consumer advocate, said it was created as a temporary mechanism to compensate generator customers until a study on the costs of distributed energy resources was completed.
But how much capacity customers can rely on on the grid and how they are compensated for that capacity has long been a point of debate in New Hampshire. Previous attempts to expand grid metering have been met with skepticism in the past due to concerns about pass-through cost or the idea that some electricity customers, being able to meter their own renewable energy, would increase electricity prices for other customers.
The PUC study addresses the cost conversion issue and provides a more accurate calculation of asset value that can be measured in net terms.
“It probably silences the argument that there is an unreasonable amount of cost-shifting,” Chris said.
The study found that the development of distributed generation would increase electricity prices for consumers by about 1%. This means a slight increase in monthly bills for customers who do not have solar or other renewable energy. Its new customers' monthly bills will be significantly reduced, up to 92%.
Chris Skoglund, director of energy transitions at Clean Energy NH, said the study also shows that "distributed energy resources bring value to New Hampshire's power system, and most importantly, customers don't just have to pay for their own utilities." Wholesale trade in electricity.
The study calculates the cost of distributed energy resources based on several factors, such as the extent to which a supplier avoids the costs associated with transmitting electricity over transmission and distribution lines. The value is 9 cents per kilowatt hour in 2025 and 12 cents per kilowatt hour in 2035.
These calculations are based on the energy market before the recent price increase and may change dramatically with the increase in electricity prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Including environmental externalities, such as the social cost of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, distributed energy increases the value of the resource by up to 59%, the presentation said.
Examining the cost of distributed energy is likely to be the focus of the Public Utilities Commission's work on the grid from January. The final version of the study should be published by the end of October.
This article was shared by Granite State News Collaborative Partners. For more information, visit the collaboration website .