AARP NH Disappointed in PUC Decision in Eversource Rate Case - Statement from Christina FitzPatrick, AARP NH State Director

Last fall, AARP New Hampshire officially intervened in the Eversource rate case. AARP New Hampshire has 212,000 members statewide, primarily age 50 and older, and 86% live within the Eversource provider area. AARP filed alternative recommendations in the proceeding.

Today, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC) reached a final decision regarding Eversource’s request to increase rates and weaken regulatory oversight (Docket 24-070). Unfortunately, the decision retains many aspects of the Eversource proposal that are unfair to residential customers and, in large part, grants Eversource’s request to make significant changes to the regulatory process moving forward, which is a blow to transparency and accountability.

Residential customers have been ill-served by the Public Utilities Commission. The decision approves several aspects of the Eversource that place an undue and disproportionate burden on residential customers, while also replacing traditional regulatory oversight with formula rates that will result in less scrutiny and accountability.

• The residential customer charge – the fixed monthly amount that customers will pay before ever turning the lights on – will increase by 43%, rising from $13.81 to $19.81 as requested by Eversource. To make matters worse, the charge will increase by $2 every year thereafter. In five years, this unavoidable charge will be almost $30, which may be the highest in the country. No matter how hard a customer tries to conserve, they will get less savings every year and all customers will lose some ability to control their monthly bills. This decision is particularly cruel to most low-income customers and to households with a high energy burden.
  
• The PUC approved Eversource’s proposal to allocate a disproportionate share of the additional burden on residential customers.
  
• The PUC has granted Eversource’s request to fundamentally change the way the company will be regulated moving forward, allowing future increases to be determined by a formula each year without additional oversight from regulators. While the exact structure is different than what Eversource proposed, the end result is the same: virtually automatic rate increases.

After receiving hundreds of comments from AARP members around the state asking the PUC to issue a decision that is fair to residential customers and ensures strong oversight, we are extremely disappointed the PUC’s decision falls short on these fronts. However, we are pleased to see the PUC has substantially reduced the company’s rate of return.

• The rate of return the PUC is allowing for Eversource’s investments is 9.5%, down from the 10.3% requested by Eversource.

At this time, it is unclear by how much residential customers’ bills will increase. AARP NH will continue to fight for fair utility rates for Granite Staters 50-plus and their families.