Market Update & Resources: Spring 2026

Updated: 3/24/26

Energy markets are dynamic. This update covers some recent changes including ISO New England’s new Day-Ahead Ancillary Services Initiative, the status of New Hampshire’s competitive energy landscape, and other recent developments. Use Print Post (3 dots in top right corner) to print entire post.

Day-Ahead Ancillary Services Initiative (DASI)

What is DASI?

The Day-Ahead Ancillary Services Initiative (DASI) is a new ISO New England ancillary market that launched in March 2025. DASI allows the grid operator to secure reliability services one day in advance instead of only reacting in real time with the intent of improving reliability and resilience.

Is DASI driving up electricity costs in New England?

During its first 11 months, DASI added about $921 million in cost to New England’s electricity, representing roughly 9% of total wholesale energy and ancillary service costs, equivalent to about $8.58/MWh of load served. This is significantly higher than ISO New England’s original estimate of roughly $140 million.

Who does DASI affect?

DASI affects all suppliers and ultimately all customers in the New England market.

In March, Governor Kelly Ayotte called on ISO New England to address this significant cost overrun (see WMUR coverage). Suppliers, Community Power providers, and utilities across the region have been reacting and notifying customers of associated rate increases (see here and here).

NH Competitive Supply Landscape

How has utility default supply changed in recent years?

Starting in 2024, regulators directed utilities (Eversource, Liberty, Unitil) to transition to buying increasing amounts of energy directly from the ISO New England spot market as opposed to the traditional practice of securing fixed-price contracts.

What are utility “proxy rates” for energy supply?

Utilities now set “proxy rates” for energy supply by estimating what the spot market will cost over the coming rate period. Spot market purchasing can create volatility and potential financial losses when rates underestimate costs. Conversely, when market prices are lower than projected, spot market procurements can yield savings. This highlights that the risks and benefits of this approach can cut both ways, though the potential for price spikes and under-recovery often presents greater exposure.

If losses are excluded from default service supply rates, deferred to the future, or moved into distribution charges paid by all customers, the utility default service supply rate may not fully reflect the true cost of service and can distort competitive comparisons in the market.

Do utility proxy rates reflect the full cost of energy supply?

The PUC prescribed the methodology that utilities are to use to set “proxy rates.” Representatives of utilities in NH have acknowledged in proceedings before the PUC that the method for setting proxy rates is more likely than not to underprice actual market costs. For example, see transcript of Unitil 12/10/25 hearing at page 28.

In March 2026, Liberty Utilities proposed a rate increase for May through July 2026 to achieve more complete recovery of $4.15 million in under-recoveries through July 2025 that the PUC approved for recovery last June. This was only half of a total of $8.3 million under-recovery of default service costs through July 2025 – much of which is attributable to the proxy price being lower than the actual market costs for that period.

The extent of Eversource, Unitil, and Liberty under- or over-collections from the current period (August 2025-July 2026) will not be known until the rate filings for the August – January period, expected no later than June. These filings will include a full year of 50% market exposure for the small customers during a period of record high winter costs.

How are policy makers responding to the proxy rate question?

HB 1733 would re-enforce the existing requirements in New Hampshire law that utility default service be “designed to minimize customer risk, not unduly harm the development of competitive markets, and mitigate against price volatility without creating new deferred costs” (RSA 374-F:3 V(e)). It does this by establishing clearer guardrails around how electric utilities procure default service and how any under- or over-collections are recovered (i.e., when rates do not reflect the cost of supply).

The legislation would ensure that costs associated with utility default service are borne only by the customers receiving that service. The bill also requires utilities to return to use of fixed-price contracts and cease spot market purchases for residential and small commercial customers. HB1733 passed the NH House with a unanimous ought-to-pass recommendation from the Science, Technology, and Energy Committee and is under consideration by the Senate as of late March.

Purchase of Receivables

What is Purchase of Receivables (POR)?

Under Purchase of Receivables (POR), utilities buy the supply portion of customer bills from third-party energy suppliers, including CPCNH, at a small discount to account for bad debt or customer non-payment. Utilities file a discount rate with regulators; a percentage of total receivables estimated to be uncollectible along with amortization of costs to implement POR and assume the responsibility for trying to collect customer non-payments.

How is POR changing and why does it matter?

Utilities are proposing significant reductions to their discount rates for POR in 2026, driven by lower bad debt, reduced capital costs, and reconciliation since POR began in 2025. These downward adjustments will provide marginal rate relief for customers with third-party suppliers, including with CPCNH.

• Eversource proposed reducing the POR discount rate from 1.285% to 0.399% (residential) and from 0.370% to 0.274% (non-residential);

• Unitil (UES) proposed reducing the POR discount rate from 1.63% to 1.01% (residential) and from 0.43% to 0.22% (general); and

• Liberty proposed reducing the POR discount rate from 1.439% to 0.000% due to over-collection as initial implementation costs and bad debt proved to be less than previously estimated.

Unitil Progress on Data, Rates, and Distributed Energy

Unitil is proposing improvements to its data access, billing capabilities, and load settlement systems that would enable suppliers like CPCNH to:

• Serve more net metering customers

• Offer time-of-use and other innovative rates

• Support solar + storage and other demand flexibility programs

• Better align customer programs with real-time market costs

Implementation of these commitments remains subject to approval by the PUC in the Unitil electric distribution rate case (DE 25-025). Click here for more information.