Building on the success of its first-in-the-nation residential wood pellet boiler/furnace rebate program, the Commission has launched a new commercial and industrial rebate program for non-residential wood pellet heating systems. The program provides a rebate of 30% of the costs of the heating system and installation, up to a maximum of $50,000. Additionally, a rebate of 30% up to $5,000 is available for thermal storage tanks and related components.

The program is open to businesses, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, governmental or municipal entities, or multi-family residences of 4 units or greater, that do not qualify for a rebate under the residential wood pellet rebate program.

The budget for this program for state fiscal year 2014 (ending June 30, 2014) is $629,000. Funds are available on a first come, first served basis. Program Manager Barbara Bernstein reports that the program is off to a strong start - since the program
opened on December 18, 2013, 19 rebate application have been submitted, and Barbara has fielded a steady stream of phone calls from individuals seeking information about the program. Barbara recently stated, "This program provides an excellent opportunity for commercial, industrial, non-profit and municipal entities to install wood pellet boilers. The Sustainable Energy Division recognizes that many organizations have a lengthy procurement process that includes bids and approvals. We will certainly work with organizations through this process.  Please consider submitting an application to reserve funding."

With the enactment last summer of Senate Bill 98, New Hampshire expanded its net metering law to include group net metering, also known as virtual net metering. The law (RSA 362-A:9, XIV) permits net metered renewable energy facilities, known as hosts, to share the proceeds from surplus electricity generation with other electric utility account holders, known as group members.

SB 98 charged the PUC with developing administrative rules to govern the group net metering law. Following a process that involved stakeholder input, the PUC developed interim rules for group net metering. These rules were approved by the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR) and adopted by the PUC on January 2, 2014 and are now in effect. Final (or permanent) rules are currently being drafted and should be completed within the next few months.

What exactly is group net metering? To answer that question we must first define traditional net metering. Net metering allows the owners of electrical renewable energy systems such as photovoltaic arrays, to receive a credit on their electric utility bills when they produce more electricity than they use, thereby exporting power to the electric grid.

Under the net metering law, electric utilities track the surplus power from residential or commercial renewable energy systems on a monthly basis. Once a year, if the net metered facility has accrued a balance of more than 600 kilowatt hours, the owner of the facility can elect to either receive a credit on their bill or a cash payment from the distribution utility for the cumulative value of the surplus electricity. However, if a customer has more than one meter, he/she cannot use the credit generated by one meter to offset the charges of another meter located either on site or at another site.  

Group net metering, by contrast, allows the owner, or host, of a renewable energy system or a heat led combined heat and power system to receive a monthly cash payment for the host's surplus electricity from his/her electric distribution utility, and then to use the proceeds to either a) offset the costs of one or more of the customer's other meters, or b) to share a portion of the proceeds with a group of other customers. One of the aims of group net metering is to allow group members to control their energy costs without having to be connected to the renewable energy system. Presumably the group members would invest in the host's renewable energy facility.  The total kilowatt hour (kWh) output of the host facility should not be greater than the total kWh usage of the group.

In order to group net meter, the host must execute a written agreement with the group members. A registration form must be filed with, and approved by, the PUC. The host and the group members must all be default service customers of the same distribution utility, meaning they may not get energy from a competitive electric supplier.