CHAPTER 369-B ELECTRIC RATE REDUCTION FINANCING AND COMMISSION ACTION
Section 369-B:2
369-B:2 Definitions. –
In this chapter:
I. "April 19 order" means commission Order No. 23,443 in Docket DE 99-099 as it was issued on April 19, 2000, excluding any subsequent amendments.
II. "Commission" means the public utilities commission established in RSA 363, as it may be constituted from time to time, and any successor agency exercising functions similar in purpose to such commission.
III. "Competition day" means competition day as defined in the original proposed settlement, as adjusted by subsequent modifications.
IV. "Electric utility" means a public utility as defined in RSA 362:2 that provides retail electric service.
V. "Finance order" means an order of the commission adopted prior to or following the effective date of this chapter pursuant to 1999, 289:3, I, pursuant to this chapter, or pursuant to both 1999, 289:3, I and this chapter.
VI. "Financing entity" means any special purpose trust, limited liability company, non-profit corporation, or other entity that is authorized in accordance with the terms of a finance order to issue rate reduction bonds, acquire RRB property, or both on behalf of the electric utility, or any combination of such entities.
VII. "Initial transition service end day" means 33 months after competition day.
VIII. "Original proposed settlement" means the "Public Service Company of New Hampshire Restructuring Settlement Agreement" filed with the commission on August 2, 1999.
IX. "PSNH" means Public Service Company of New Hampshire.
X. "Rate reduction bonds" ("RRB") means bonds, notes, certificates of participation or beneficial interest, or other evidences of indebtedness or ownership, issued pursuant to an executed indenture or other agreement of a financing entity, in accordance with this chapter, 1999, 289:3, I and II, or RSA 369-A, the proceeds of which are used, directly or indirectly, to provide, recover, finance, or refinance RRB costs, and which, directly or indirectly, are secured by, evidence ownership interests in, or are payable from, RRB property.
XI. "Retail customer" means any person or entity purchasing directly or otherwise obtaining or being supplied directly with retail electric service for end use consumption, including those served under special contracts.
XII. "Retail electric service" means the delivery of electric power through the provision of transmission and/or distribution service by an electric utility to a retail customer, regardless of such retail customer's source of electric power, and shall include any back-up, maintenance, emergency, and other delivery service provided to a retail customer by an electric utility.
XIII. "RRB charge" means those retail electric service rates that are authorized by the commission in a finance order to recover those RRB costs that are eligible to be funded with the proceeds of rate reduction bonds pursuant to this chapter and the costs of providing, recovering, financing, or refinancing such RRB costs through a plan approved by the commission in the finance order, including the costs of issuing, servicing, and retiring rate reduction bonds. The RRB charge authorized by the commission may vary by cost of service, by customer class, and between special contract customers. All RRB charges shall be assessed on a per kilowatt-hour basis, and shall be non-bypassable as provided in RSA 369-B:4, IV.
XIV. "RRB costs" means expenditures which are incurred by an electric utility or which an electric utility is obligated to incur either prior to or subsequent to the effective date of this chapter, and costs approved by the commission to mitigate such expenditures, as shall be designated in a finance order approved by the commission and which may include but are not limited to:
(a) Expenditures incurred in respect of generation assets, entitlements, and acquisition premiums.
(b) Expenditures incurred in respect to the buyout, buydown, restructuring or renegotiation of power purchase obligations.
(c) Expenditures incurred in respect to regulatory assets.
(d) Expenditures incurred to refinance or retire existing debt or existing equity capital of the electric utility and any costs related thereto.
(e) Amounts necessary to recover federal or state taxes actually paid by an electric utility, which tax liability recovery is modified by the transactions approved in a finance order issued by the commission pursuant to this chapter.
(f) Reasonable costs, as approved by the commission, relating to the issue, servicing, or refinancing of rate reduction bonds under the provisions of this chapter, including, without limitation, principal and interest payments and accruals, sinking fund payments, debt service and other reserves, costs of credit enhancement, indemnities, if any, owed to the state or the trustee for the rate reduction bonds, issuance costs and redemption premiums, if any, and all other reasonable fees, costs, and charges in respect of rate reduction bonds.
(g) Expenditures incurred to implement the 2015 settlement proposal or other divestiture of all or some of PSNH's generation assets as ordered by the commission.
XV. "RRB property" means the irrevocable vested property right created pursuant to this chapter and one or more finance orders, including, without limitation, the right, title, and interest of an electric utility or a financing entity in and to all revenues, collections, claims, payments, money, or proceeds of or arising from the RRB charge authorized to be imposed and collected pursuant to such finance orders to recover RRB costs and the costs of paying, financing, reimbursing, or refinancing the RRB costs, including the reasonable costs of issuing, servicing, and retiring rate reduction bonds, and in and to all rights to obtain adjustments to such RRB charge pursuant to the terms of RSA 369-B:4, III and the finance order, all as determined by the commission in its approval of such finance orders. "RRB property" shall constitute a current and irrevocable vested property right, notwithstanding the fact that the value of such property right may depend upon electricity usage or the performance of certain services.
XVI. "Security interest" means a security interest as defined in RSA 382-A:1-201(b)(35).
XVII. "Service territory" means, with respect to any electric utility, the geographic area established by the commission as the retail electric service territory of such electric utility, as such territory is depicted on the "Electric Utilities Franchise Areas" map issued by the commission, dated February 13, 2015, together with any other geographic area in which such electric utility actually provided retail electric service on such date and any new geographic areas in which such electric utility is granted a franchise for the provision of retail electric service subsequent to such date.
XVIII. "2015 settlement proposal" means the "2015 Public Service Company of New Hampshire Restructuring and Rate Stabilization Agreement" reached by and between PSNH, the New Hampshire department of energy, the New Hampshire consumer advocate, and any other settling parties in Dockets DE 11-250 and DE 14-238 before the commission regarding cost recovery of the Merrimack Station scrubber and divestiture of PSNH's remaining generation plants.
Source. 2000, 249:2. 2001, 29:9. 2003, 56:1, eff. July 20, 2003. 2015, 221:2-6, eff. July 9, 2015. 2017, 156:64, eff. July 1, 2017. 2021, 91:200, eff. July 1, 2021.