The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has adopted second revised guidelines for its retail wheeling pilot program. The pilot is independent of full restructuring efforts.
The collaborative group working on the guidelines was unable to make a joint recommendation on stranded costs, but the PUC found no reason to deviate from the 50/50 split, with a true-up where needed. The pilot is limited to 3 percent of each utility's peak load for two years. Participants will be randomly selected from a pool of interested customers. Load aggregators must register with the PUC, but no limits will be placed on their marketing activities.
The pilot will test the concept of "Geographic Area of Choice" (GAC), which divides residential and small commercial customers into defined geographic areas. Once a utility allocates its 3-percent load (em according to the weight of its residential, commercial, and industrial classes (em half the residential and small commercial load will participate through a GAC and half will be chosen at random.