Update for Unitil Communities: Major Progress on Data, Rates & Net Metering Functionality

By Clifton Below, Immediate Past Chair/ RLAC Chair, and Deana Dennis, Director of Regulatory & Legislative Affairs

In Brief:

• Settlement agreement in Unitil’s electric distribution rate case (PUC Docket No. DE 25-025) includes commitments to modernize load settlement, data access, and billing capabilities. CPCNH supported the agreement following testimony highlighting barriers that currently limit competitive energy services.

• Unitil will investigate accounting for solar and storage exports to the grid as load reductions in wholesale load settlement. If approved by the PUC and then implemented, distributed energy exports would reduce wholesale supply obligations rather than being treated as “unaccounted-for-energy.”

• Unitil is developing a new load settlement platform capable of using hourly interval meter data. This would replace current class-average load shapes and enable more precise settlement aligned with near real-time usage patterns.

• Unitil is also working with vendors to enable three-part time-of-use (TOU) rates and provide TOU usage data to competitive suppliers. This billing capability is necessary for offering innovative rate options through utility consolidated billing.

• Unitil has invited CPCNH to collaborate on testing Green Button Connect My Data. This platform would allow customers to securely share their energy usage data from new advanced meters with third parties, enabling more personalized programs and services.

• Why it matters: These developments lay the groundwork for CPCNH offerings in Unitil territory, including support for net metering customers, time-differentiated rate options, solar-plus-storage programs, and other innovative solutions designed to meet customer needs and interests as well as lower near- and long-term energy costs.

The Insight:

CPCNH member communities in Unitil’s service territory are seeing meaningful progress in the ongoing Utility electric distribution rate case (PUC Docket No. DE 25-025).

Through the Settlement Agreement supported by CPCNH, the NH Department of Energy, and Unitil, the utility has committed to several steps that begin addressing long-standing barriers limiting competitive energy services and distributed energy integration.

While many of these changes will require additional development before becoming operational, they represent important building blocks for enabling a more modern and competitive electricity market in Unitil territory.

Here’s what this means in practical terms.

Accounting for Solar & Storage Exports in Load Settlement

One of the most significant developments concerns how exports from distributed energy resources – such as rooftop solar or battery storage – are treated in wholesale load settlement. Under current practices, energy exports are effectively ignored and treated as “unaccounted for energy.” This approach prevents competitive suppliers like CPCNH from realizing the full value of customer-side energy production.

Under the Settlement Agreement, Unitil will:

• Investigative accounting for exports as load reduction, and

• Include parameters for this functionality in its Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new load settlement vendor

If implemented, this change would allow distributed energy to function as load reduction relative to the ISO New England wholesale markets. This opens the door to future pay-for-performance programs, where solar-plus-storage systems could be compensated for reducing system peaks and the high costs that go with them. It would also allow CPCNH and other competitive suppliers to better align customer programs with wholesale price signals, improving overall cost efficiency.

Transition Toward Hourly Load Settlement

Unitil is also preparing an RFP to procure a new vendor capable of supporting hourly interval load settlement. Currently, most supplier settlements rely on class-average load shapes, which estimate customer usage patterns rather than using actual hourly consumption data.

Moving to hourly load settlement would allow:

• CPCNH and its customers to realize the value from improved load shapes

• More accurate time-of-use (TOU) rates

• Innovative peak-reduction programs

• Development of cost-saving demand flexi

  bility programs

This capability is considered a foundational element of a modern retail electricity market.

Enabling Three-Period Time-of-Use Rates

Unitil is actively working with its Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) vendors and the NH EDI/EBT (Electronic Business Transactions) Working Group to enable the infrastructure required for three-part time-of-use (TOU) rates, including:

• Providing TOU usage data to competitive suppliers, and

• Enabling consolidated billing that includes supplier TOU rates

Without this functionality, suppliers cannot practically offer time-differentiated rates through the standard utility bill. With it, CPCNH could eventually provide optional rate structures that reward customers for shifting usage away from high-cost peak hours, helping lower their own and system costs over time.

Green Button Connect Data Collaboration

In a related development, Unitil has invited CPCNH to collaborate in testing its implementation of Green Button Connect My Data (GBC). GBC allows customers – with authorization – to securely stream their interval data (hourly or sub-hourly meter reads) with third-party service providers such as CPCNH.

This capability could support:

• Near real-time data access

• Customer-specific energy programs

• More advanced rate innovation

• Data-driven services and analytics

CPCNH will work with Unitil to define the scope of this collaboration and seek Board approval as needed.

Implications for Unitil Communities

While these developments will take time to fully implement, they represent critical infrastructure improvements that will allow CPCNH to expand offerings in Unitil territory.

Over time, these capabilities could help:

• Serve more net-metering customers

• Enable time-of-use and innovative pricing programs

• Support solar-plus-storage integration

• Improve alignment between customer usage and wholesale power costs

• Strengthen CPCNH’s ability to deliver long-term value for member communities

Importantly, these outcomes also reflect sustained engagement in regulatory processes. Advancing market modernization often requires collaborative work between utilities, regulators, and competitive market participants.

Implementation of the Settlement Agreement commitments remain subject to approval by the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, and hearings in the Unitil rate case are scheduled to begin March 24. CPCNH will continue to keep Unitil member communities informed as these commitments move from planning stages to implementation.