Londonderry, NH – November 21, 2018 – Liberty Utilities is excited to report that it has reached an agreement with the staff at the Public Utilities Commission, the Consumer Advocate, New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association, Conservation Law Foundation, Acadia Center and the City of Lebanon for its innovative home battery storage program. The Public Utilities Commission will hold a hearing to review the agreement on November 29th. There was no opposition to the settlement by any of the interested parties.

“We have worked closely with the NHPUC Staff, Office of the Consumer Advocate and interested parties over the last year to create a pilot program that makes the most sense for customers,” according to Sue Fleck, President, Liberty Utilities - NH. “This program is designed to get customers more engaged with their energy use, and it will provide peace of mind during a power outage and has the potential to lower costs.”

Madeleine Mineau, Executive Director of NH Sustainable Energy Association said, “NHSEA is pleased to see Liberty Utilities leading in NH to offer an innovative approach to deploying energy storage with time-of-use rates to manage peak demand events and reduce associated costs. This program will create the first real viable market for energy storage by the inclusion of the bring-your-own-device phase. We look forward to the successful implementation of this program and hope it will serve as an inspiration to other utilities in our state to implement clean energy solutions"

The home batteries will help Liberty Utilities reduce its overall demand for electricity during peaks and serve as back-up power for customers during a power outage. Fleck points out, “reducing customer usage at specific times is important because our customers pay transmission charges, which are based on our peak demand. If our peak demand is lower it will reduce this charge. We can pass all of that savings on to customers.” 

The pilot program is the first of its kind in the United States to combine battery storage with time-of-use rates. Liberty will introduce Mid-Peak, Critical-Peak and Off-Peak pricing. The installed batteries will be charged overnight during Off-Peak times and that power will be utilized during Critical-Peak times during the day. The Off-Peak rate is expected to be a savings of over 10 cents per kWh during the summer months compared to regular residential rates.

The cost to participate in the program is set at $25 per battery, per month. Each customer will be required to use two batteries. The agreement will last for ten years. The installation, service and maintenance will be provided at no additional cost to customers.
Once Liberty Utilities receives approval from the NHPUC, it will begin Phase One of the pilot. Phase One will be limited to 200 batteries. Once Phase One is proven successful, the pilot will move to Phase Two, where Liberty will install up to an additional 300 batteries. In addition, once a “Bring-Your-Own-Device” program is defined by a working group, Liberty Utilities customers will also have the option to purchase
a home storage battery from another provider. The agreement allows an opportunity for battery aggregators to participate through a competitive bid process to provide an additional 2.5 megawatts of battery capacity, which is equivalent to approximately 500 batteries, to customers who wish use a third party to purchase their battery storage system.