The New Hampshire Energy Forward Act
Concord, NH – The Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH) has unveiled its 2025 legislative agenda, introducing the New Hampshire Energy Forward Act, a forward-thinking initiative designed to strengthen the state’s competitive energy market and empower local communities. The Act is a collection of four key bills— HB 760, HB 755-FN, HB 759, and HB 761—each aimed at making targeted reforms to facilitate a local market for distributed energy while lowering energy costs for Granite Staters.
“New Hampshire has a long history of prioritizing competitive markets, dating back to the landmark Electric Utility Restructuring legislation nearly three decades ago. The New Hampshire Energy Forward Act builds upon this foundation, ensuring that residential and small business customers can fully realize the benefits of energy competition.” said Clifton Below, Chair of CPCNH.
HB 760-FN: Protects Consumers and Competitive Markets from Cost Shifting
HB 760-FN safeguards customers and the competitive market by preventing anticompetitive utility cost shifting of supply costs to all customers, including those who elected to be served by a competitive supplier and Community Aggregation.
HB 755-FN: Enabling Free Market Competition in Local Energy Projects
Because competition has not been fully developed in NH’s electricity market, HB 755FN modernizes market functions to enable true competition for local energy resources in a way that lowers costs for everyone and makes New Hampshire more energy independent.
HB 759-FN: Enhancing a Local Market for Community-Scale Generation Projects
HB 759-FN expands market competition by allowing Community Power Aggregations and Competitive Electric Power Suppliers to directly contract with net-metered power generators under 5 MW to reduce costs and support economic development.
HB 761-FN: Enabling Local Energy Storage
HB 761-FN clarifies state regulatory responsibilities and enhances market-based integration of local energy storage projects into New Hampshire’s energy landscape.
“The New Hampshire Energy Forward Act is about giving our communities more control over their energy choices while reducing costs through competition and innovation,” said Deana Dennis, Director of Regulatory & Legislative Affairs for CPCNH. “By embracing these smart, market-driven reforms, we can secure an affordable and local energy future that truly works for all Granite Staters.”
This slate of legislation will be heard on February 18, 2025 in the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee.
For more information, contact Andrew Provencher, andrew@mainstreetstrategic.com, or Henry Herndon, henry.herndon@communitypowernh.gov
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Community Power, authorized under NH RSA 53-E, empowers towns, cities, and counties to choose where their electricity comes from.
Community Power enables municipalities and counties to become the default electricity provider for their communities. Under Community Power, electric distribution utilities continue to own, operate and maintain the power lines and infrastructure while local communities gain control over the cost of their energy and where it is sourced from. Many more New Hampshire towns and cities have begun the process of launching their own programs in the coming months and years. More than 70 communities have already joined the Community Power Coalition and are currently in the process of launching their own Community Power programs.
