HB 345 - AS INTRODUCED
2015 SESSION
15-0525
06/04
HOUSE BILL 345
AN ACT requiring utilities to provide data to consumers explaining rates and rate increases.
SPONSORS: Rep. Rogers, Merr 28; Rep. Baldasaro, Rock 5; Rep. Cushing, Rock 21
COMMITTEE: Science, Technology and Energy
This bill requires utilities to provide information to consumers explaining rates and rate increases.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
15-0525
06/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fifteen
AN ACT requiring utilities to provide data to consumers explaining rates and rate increases.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Public Utilities; Rates and Charges; Information Required. Amend RSA 378:1 to read as follows:
378:1 Schedules.
I. Every public utility shall file with the public utilities commission, and shall print and keep open to public inspection[,]:
(a) Schedules showing the rates, fares, charges, and prices for any service rendered or to be rendered in accordance with the rules adopted by the commission pursuant to RSA 541-A; provided, however, that public utilities which serve as seasonal tourist attractions only, as determined in accordance with rules adopted by the commission pursuant to RSA 541-A, shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter.
(b) Data supporting such rates, fares, charges, and prices, including:
(1) The method for determining the rate.
(2) Whether the initial rate has an adjustment clause.
(3) When applicable, whether the rate will be affected by changes in the market price for electricity.
(4) If the rate is provided at a discount, how consumers may be affected in the future by such discount.
II. Any public utility that fails to provide the information in paragraph I at the time of a rate increase filing shall be denied the rate increase until such information is provided.
III. The commission shall review the bad debt of utility customers to ensure that the utilities are able to make the best effort to collect a debt before using a bad debt as a basis for a rate increase.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.