SB342: (New Title) relative to payment of utility assessments, relative to regulation of electric generation companies, and relative to violations of gas pipeline and liquefied petroleum gas system regulation.

CHAPTER 148

SB 342-FN – FINAL VERSION

29Apr2004… 1245h

2004 SESSION

04-3040

03/09

SENATE BILL 342-FN

AN ACT relative to payment of utility assessments, relative to regulation of electric generation companies, and relative to violations of gas pipeline and liquefied petroleum gas system regulation.

SPONSORS: Sen. Odell, Dist 8; Sen. Below, Dist 5; Rep. Kurk, Hills 48; Rep. Thomas, Belk 31

COMMITTEE: Energy and Economic Development

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill authorizes the public utilities commission to charge a late penalty fee to a utility that does not timely pay its assessment for expenses of the commission. This bill clarifies the scope of the exemption for certain electric generation companies from regulation as public utilities.

This bill also increases penalties for violations of the regulation of gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas systems.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

29Apr2004… 1245h

04-3040

03/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Four

AN ACT relative to payment of utility assessments, relative to regulation of electric generation companies, and relative to violations of gas pipeline and liquefied petroleum gas system regulation.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

148:1 Expenses of Public Utilities Commission Against Certain Utilities; Collection; Late Penalty Fee. Amend RSA 363-A:4 to read as follows:

363-A:4 Collection. Forthwith upon the completion of each such list, on or before August 10, October 10, January 10, and April 10 of each fiscal year, the public utilities commission shall bill each public utility for the quarterly amount assessed against it within 10 working days. Such bill shall be sent registered mail, and shall constitute notice of assessment and demand for payment. Payment shall be made to the public utilities commission within 30 days after the receipt of the bill. After the expiration of 30 days from the receipt of an original bill, the public utilities commission may add to the assessment a late penalty fee and may commence an action at law for the recovery of the assessment. Within 30 days of the assessment for the first quarterly payment, each public utility which has any objection to the amount assessed against it for the prior fiscal year shall file with the commission its objection in writing, setting out in detail the grounds upon which it is claimed that said assessment is excessive, erroneous, unlawful, or invalid. If such objections are filed, the commission, after reasonable notice to the objecting public utility, shall hold a hearing on such objections, and if the commission finds that said assessment or any part thereof is excessive, erroneous, unlawful, or invalid, the commission shall reassess the amount to be paid by such public utility, and shall order that an amended bill be sent to such public utility in accordance with such reassessment. The public utilities commission shall not commence an action at law for recovery of any assessment for the first quarterly payment until any such objection has been resolved.

148:2 Electric Generation Companies; When Public Utilities. Amend RSA 362:4-c, I to read as follows:

I. The term “public utility” shall not include any entity determined by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to be an exempt wholesale generator, nor shall it include any corporation, company, association, limited liability company, joint stock association, partnership, or person, their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court, solely by virtue of owning, operating, or managing any plant or equipment or any part of the same which has received a certificate of site and facility as an energy facility or as a bulk power supply facility pursuant to RSA 162-H after July 1, 1998, or are sold after July 1, 1998, for the generation or sale of electricity or for transmission of electricity from such a plant to an interconnection with the transmission grid. [General or facility-specific safety and reliability standards established by the commission for electric generation facilities shall also apply to those facilities exempted from public utility regulation under this paragraph.]

148:3 Gas Pipeline Regulation; Liquefied Petroleum Gas Systems Added; Violations. Amend RSA 374:7-a to read as follows:

374:7-a Violation.

I. Any person who knowingly or willfully violates any provision of RSA 370:2 or any standards or rules adopted under it by the public utilities commission, relative to gas pipelines and liquefied petroleum gas systems pursuant to the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act, shall be subject to a civil penalty of not exceeding [$10,000] $100,000 for each violation for each day that the violation persists. However, the maximum civil penalty shall not exceed [$500,000] $1,000,000 for any related series of violations.

II. Any person who otherwise violates any provision of RSA 370:2 or any standards or rules adopted under it by the public utilities commission, relative to gas pipelines and liquefied petroleum gas systems pursuant to the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act, shall be subject to a civil penalty of not exceeding $10,000 for each violation for each day that the violation persists. However, the maximum civil penalty shall not exceed $500,000 for any related series of violations.

III. Any civil penalty assessed under [paragraph I] this section may be compromised by the public utilities commission. In determining the amount of the penalty, or the amount agreed upon in compromise, the appropriateness of the penalty to the size of the business of the person charged, the gravity of the violation, [and] the good faith of the person charged in attempting to achieve compliance, after notification of a violation, the degree of culpability of the person, the history of prior violations, the effect of the penalty on the person, and any other identifiable factor related to the circumstances of the person and the nature and circumstances of the violation, shall be considered. The amount of the penalty, when finally determined, or the amount agreed upon in compromise, may be deducted from any sums owing by the state to the person charged or may be recovered in a civil action in the state courts.

148:4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2005.

(Approved: May 24, 2004)

(Effective Date: January 1, 2005)