Six months ago, electric utilities faced a federal order to give around $150 million in rebates to New Hampshire residents to make up for excess profits in past years.
You may notice that no check has, as of yet, arrived in your mailbox. And although New England governors say they’re mad about this, it’s not clear when that check might show up or how big it will be.
At issue is a March 19 order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on what is known as the base return on equity for owners of long-distance electric transmission lines in New England. FERC said this guaranteed return on investment was too high and ordered approximately $1.5 billion in refunds to customers to make up for what it says were excess charges between 2015 and now. Roughly $150 million would come to customers in New Hampshire.
FERC initially ordered the transmission owners to complete refunds by mid-April, but the utilities and ISO New England, which oversees the region’s power grid, requested more time. After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the companies’ request to scuttle the refunds, FERC said they must be paid out by May 20, 2027.
In July, Ayotte and governors from the other five New England states urged federal regulators to uphold the refund and get it paid quickly, but not much came of that. This week, Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts sent a letter to the heads of Eversource, Unitil and National Grid, saying, “I urge you to end your appeal and begin issuing refunds.”
It also asked for clarity on how the fund would be divided up, and when and how it will be distributed, telling them to provide the information by Oct. 27.
At issue is the fact electric companies have monopolies over their service areas. In return for being protected from competition, the amount of return they can make when building something is regulated by state commissions. Deciding the amount of this return is a constant battle.
For years, FERC set that rate of return for building long-distance transmission lines at 11.14%, but in March it decided that was unreasonably high and lowered it to 9.57% and ordered utilities to retroactively refund customers the difference. That has led to the fight over refunds.
