A Strong Start to the 2026 Session: Protecting Local Control, Fair Competition and Advancing Practical Energy Innovation
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
By Deana Dennis, Director of Regulatory & Legislative Affairs
The Brief:
The 2026 legislative session is off to a strong start for municipal authority, competition, and practical innovation in New Hampshire’s energy market. Several bills affecting community energy policy have already advanced with bipartisan support.
Lawmakers tabled HB 1002, preserving local authority over solar property tax exemptions. The bill would have repealed a long-standing local option allowing municipalities to exempt the added value of solar installations from property taxes.
HB 1733 advances structural reforms to utility default service. The bill clarifies that over- and under-collections (i.e., when rates do not reflect the cost of supply) in default service must be recovered only from default service customers, reinforcing market fairness and cost accountability.
Two bills modernize local energy tools and market innovation. HB 1718 enables solar-plus-storage systems to participate in net metering, while SB 590 clarifies municipalities’ ability to use revolving funds for energy-related initiatives.
Why this matters: Taken together, these actions reinforce local decision-making authority, protect fair competition between utilities and alternative suppliers, and enable practical energy innovations that can strengthen grid and customer resilience and reduce long-term costs.
The Insight:
The New Hampshire legislature is not yet halfway through the 2026 session, but several early developments already signal strong bipartisan support for stable energy policy, municipal authority, and practical innovation.
Four key initiatives so far reflect a mix of defensive efforts – protecting local control and fair competition – alongside forward-looking policy changes designed to enable communities and customers to adopt modern energy tools.
Defending Local Control and Policy Stability
One of the most significant defensive victories this session came with the tabling of HB 1002, which would have repealed New Hampshire’s long-standing local-option property tax exemption for solar energy systems.
For decades, state law has allowed municipalities to decide whether the added value of qualifying solar systems should be exempt from local property taxation. Communities have historically adopted – or declined – the exemption through their own legislative processes.
HB 1002 would have overridden those local decisions by eliminating the exemption statewide. In doing so, it could have increased property tax burdens on residents and businesses that installed solar systems based on the rules in place when they made those investments.
In February, the House voted 187-157 to table the bill, effectively halting its progress. The motion was initiated by Rep. Joe Guthrie, with 29 Republican members joining all House Democrats in support.
The outcome reflected strong engagement from municipalities, stakeholders, and the business community, many of whom raised concerns about policy stability and investment certainty.
Reforming Utility Default Service
Another significant development is HB 1733, which addresses structural issues related to utility default service procurement and cost recovery.
CPCNH first brought this reform forward through legislation last session after concerns emerged around how utility default service was being procured and how under-collections were being proposed for recovery – through non-bypassable charges assessed on all customers, including those served by Community Power. While the bill was ultimately tabled, we made a strong enough case that it was not voted Inexpedient to Legislate by the House. That distinction mattered. It kept the conversation alive.
Over the interim, several bipartisan members of the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee recognized the value of the proposal and worked to bring it back this year in a refined form.
In parallel, CPCNH engaged deeply in the Public Utilities Commission proceedings involving all three of the investor-owned utilities – Eversource, Unitil, and Liberty.
Initially, the Department of Energy supported the Eversource and Unitil proposed recovery approaches to socialize their under-collections as opposed to recovering them exclusively from their default service customers. The narrative at the time suggested that the under-recoveries were being driven by customer migration to competitive suppliers and Community Power.
However, through CPCNH’s participation in the regulatory process, it became clear that the under-collections were not caused by customer migration – but instead, stemmed from errors and structural issues within the utilities’ own load settlement and billing systems.
That distinction was critical. Ultimately, the PUC rejected the two proposals. That outcome protected customers and preserved fairness in the market.
HB 1733 builds on that regulatory work by codifying clearer statutory guardrails, including:
Ensuring that any under- or over-collections in utility default service are recovered only from utility default service customers.
Limiting reconciliation recovery periods.
Preventing utilities from exposing small customers to overly volatile spot-market procurement practices going forward.
This is especially important in the current environment. When market conditions shift – including periods when CPCNH rates are higher than those of the utilities – it is essential that the rules remain neutral and predictable. Customers should not be exposed to after-the-fact cost shifting, nor should utilities be permitted to socialize losses created by their own system errors.
HB 1733 helps level the playing field by clarifying that each service is responsible for its own costs. It reinforces a simple principle: stability and fairness in how rates are set and reconciled benefits everyone.
The bill passed the committee unanimously in February and then was passed by the House on March 5 via voice vote on the consent calendar, reflecting strong bipartisan support.
Modernizing Solar and Energy Storage
The legislature has also advanced several forward-looking initiatives designed to modernize New Hampshire’s distributed energy framework. HB 1718 clarifies that energy storage can be paired with net-metered solar generation without affecting existing system size limits.
The policy change allows customers to store excess solar energy generated during the day and use it later, when electricity demand – and value – is higher. Storage can also improve resiliency by providing backup power during grid outages.
The bill’s amendment was carefully crafted to accelerate storage adoption while preserving flexibility for future program design as regulatory and technical barriers continue to be addressed.
HB 1718 received unanimous committee support and passed the House by voice vote.
Supporting Local Energy Tools
A second measure, SB 590 clarifies that municipalities may use revolving funds to support local energy initiatives through their electric aggregation plans. The bill also includes a CPCNH-requested amendment explicitly confirming that no local tax revenues may be used to support energy services through such funds, addressing concerns raised during testimony.
In short, SB 590 does something modest and practical: it ensures that municipalities can use common financial tools – tools already available for other local purposes – when pursuing local energy initiatives.
The Senate unanimously passed SB 590 with the amendment on the consent calendar, and the bill now moves over to the House, referred to the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee for further consideration as part of the legislative process.
The Bigger Picture:
While much of the legislative session remains ahead, these early developments reflect strong bipartisan recognition that predictable rules, fair competition, and local flexibility are essential to New Hampshire’s evolving energy market.
Protecting local decision-making authority while enabling communities to adopt practical energy innovations will continue to be central themes as the session progresses.
CPCNH will continue to keep members informed and engaged as the legislative and regulatory developments unfold.
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