Amendment #13 to H5151

Public Benefit Fee Relief

Mrs. Sullivan-Almeida of Abington moves to amend the bill By adding the following sections:

“SECTION XXX. Chapter 25 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after Section 23 the following new section:

Section 24 (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any public benefit energy charge assessed on a ratepayer’s energy or gas consumption and authorized by statute or Department of Public Utilities order shall be applied only to energy or gas usage occurring during non-peak hours, as defined in subsection (c). Nothing in this section shall be construed to eliminate or invalidate any public benefit program authorized by law, but shall govern the temporal application of the charges used to fund such programs.

(b) This section shall apply to public benefit energy charges assessed on:

(1) electric energy consumption measured in kilowatt-hours;

(2) natural gas consumption measured in therms or equivalent units; and

(3) any other energy consumption unit used for the recovery of public benefit program costs, including but not limited to delivered fuels where such charges are authorized by law or regulation.

(c) For the purposes of this section, “non-peak hours” shall mean the period from 9:00 P.M. to 9:00 A.M., Monday through Sunday.

(d) For the purposes of this section, “public benefit energy charge” shall mean any charge listed on utility bills as “Public Benefits” to fund programs, including but not limited to: Energy Efficiency Charge, Residential Assistance Charge, Renewable or Clean Energy Programs, Distributed Solar Charge, and Electric Vehicle Charge.

(e) The Department of Public Utilities shall: (1) Within 180 days of the effective date of this act, initiate proceedings to revise utility tariffs and billing practices to ensure compliance with section 24 of chapter 25; (2) Establish methods for allocating energy and gas usage between peak and non-peak hours, including the use of advanced metering data, load profiles, or reasonable proxies where hourly metering is not available

SECTION XXX. Section 19 of Chapter 25 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence at the end thereof:

Any charge assessed pursuant to this section shall be subject to section 24 of this chapter.

SECTION XXX. Section 20 of Chapter 25 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence at the end thereof:

Any charge assessed pursuant to this section shall be subject to section 24 of this chapter.

SECTION XXX. Chapter 164 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after Section 1K the following section:

Any public benefit charge assessed by a gas distribution company on a per-therm or equivalent basis, including but not limited to charges for energy efficiency, residential assistance, renewable or clean energy programs, or other system benefit purposes, shall be subject to section 24 of chapter 25.”

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #13 to H5151

Public Benefit Fee Relief