State of New Hampshire Pilot Program Summary
On May 28, 1996, the State of New Hampshire began a Pilot Program to test the impact of allowing electric customers to choose their energy supplier. Roughly 17,000 customers were chosen to participate in the Pilot Program. All customers were given an opportunity to sign up for the Pilot, and the final participants were chosen from the selection pool. The size of the Pilot, 3% of New Hampshire's electric load, was chosen as it provided a large enough sample to adequately test the concept of retail competition.

As with the full retail choice plan, only the generation component is open to competition in the Pilot Program. Instead of the Commission determining the cost of the generation component as it does today, consumers under the Pilot are able to obtain generation at competitive market prices. The costs associated with sending the power to customers over existing lines (the transmission and distribution costs) continue to be set by the Public Utilities Commission. This will be the same scenario under full retail choice.

Thirty-three (33) power suppliers registered for the Pilot, offering open market rates, incentives and other cost proposals to customers. After the first six months, a survey was done to assess consumer attitudes concerning the Pilot. The survey revealed that a substantial majority of consumers, two-thirds (2/3), expressed satisfaction with the Pilot. Forty percent (40%) of respondents said the Pilot exceeded their expectations with the most common reasons for approval being lower electric rates and the freedom to choose energy suppliers. Many respondents (41%) who specifically said the main reason they volunteered for the Pilot Program was to save money said the savings they saw from the Pilot Program were higher than what they expected.

Finally, fifty-nine percent (59%) of participants thought the Public Utilities Commission should be responsible for educating consumers about retail electric choice in the future, and some said more accurate information was needed concerning the advertising they were receiving from electric suppliers. This is one reason why a full public education plan is being implemented as New Hampshire approaches retail choice.

The Pilot has been, and continues to be, a valuable experiment for both consumers and electric suppliers. The Pilot has been a success in proving the ability to provide competition and lower rates without reducing the quality of service to New Hampshire's electric energy consumers.

In May of 1998, the NH Public Utilities Commission extended indefinitely the retail competition Pilot Program.

Recognizing that retail choice was now available to all customers of Granite State Electric, on July 6, 1999, the Commission discontinued the Pilot Program in Granite State Electric's franchise area.

New Hampshire Domiciled Utilities

• Concord Electric (Part of Unitil Corporation)
• Connecticut Valley Electric Company
• Exeter & Hampton Electric Company (Part of Unitil Corporation)
• Granite State Electric Company
• New Hampshire Electric Cooperative
• Public Service Company of New Hampshire
• Municipal owned utilities
  • Ashland
  • Littleton
  • New Hampton
  • Wolfeboro
  • Woodsville

Municipal utilities do not fall under the jurisdiction of the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. Customers of those utilities were not eligible to participate in the Pilot Program. Municipal utilities are not required to open their markets to consumer choice, either.