New net metering rules: get a host number before you share solar credits
New net metering rules: get a host number before you share solar credits
2026-09-15 · New Hampshire · Regulation
What happened. The New Hampshire Department of Energy adopted a new administrative rules chapter, En 900, Net Metering For Customer-Owned Renewable Energy Generation Resources, as Document #14568, effective April 27, 2026, expiring April 27, 2036.1 It stands up the department's own net metering administration after the split from the Public Utilities Commission.
What the rules say
The chapter states its purpose at En 901.01: "The purpose of En 900, pursuant to the mandate of RSA 362-A:9, is to establish processes for the implementation of net energy metering as the public interest requires, and consistent with the legislative declaration of purpose set forth in RSA 362-A:1."
The provision that reaches shared solar is the host-registration requirement in En 909.01. A "host" is defined at En 902.21 as "a customer-generator that elects to assume the duties and obligations of RSA 362-A:9, XIV, who is, and who remains during the term of the agreement, a customer of the same distribution utility as the group."
Registration is a precondition, stated flatly at En 909.01(b): "No customer-generator shall begin acting as a host until it has received a registration number from the department."
The mechanics: an applicant files the form "Application to Register, Re-register, or Modify a Host Registration, for Group Net Metering," dated 4/2026 (En 909.01(a)). The department must "either issue the host a registration number or deny the application" within 90 days of a complete application (En 909.01(c)). A provisional approval "shall expire 12 months from the date of its issuance" (En 909.01(h)). And on request, "a host shall provide to the department copies of any documents related to the host and its members that pertain to meeting the intent and requirements of En 900" (En 909.01(l)).
The precision that matters: this is not an HOA rule
The words "condominium," "homeowners," "association" and "common area" appear nowhere in En 900. We checked the full chapter text; there are zero occurrences. The rule reaches associations only through the generic definitions of "customer-generator" and "host."
That is not a technicality. It means a New Hampshire board looking for guidance written for its situation will not find any in this chapter, and it means every question about how the rule applies to a condominium has to be answered by reasoning from the generic terms rather than by citing a provision.
Where an association lands inside the definitions
Group net metering is the mechanism by which a single array credits multiple accounts. It is the only realistic route for an association that puts panels on a clubhouse roof, a carport, or a common-area structure and wants the output to reduce unit owners' individual electric bills rather than only the association's own common-area meter.
In that configuration the association — or whoever holds the meter the array is behind — is the customer-generator, and if it elects to allocate credits to a group, it is the host. That triggers En 909.01(b), and the sequencing in that sentence is the operative point: the registration number comes before the allocation, not after.
The group members must be customers of the same distribution utility as the host. In most New Hampshire communities every unit is served by the same utility, so this is rarely a problem; in border towns and in communities served by a municipal or cooperative utility, it can be.
What this changes for a board that already has an array
An association operating a shared array before April 27, 2026 was doing so under the predecessor regime. The new chapter does not grandfather anything on its face, and the form it requires is dated 4/2026. A board that cannot produce a current departmental registration number for its host arrangement should treat obtaining one as the immediate step rather than assume continuity.
Two timing facts belong in the project plan. The department has 90 days from a complete application to issue or deny — so a board that expects to switch on an array in the spring should be filing in the winter. And a provisional approval expires after 12 months, which is a date somebody has to own; a provisional approval that lapses mid-season leaves the credit allocation without a basis.
The document-production clause
En 909.01(l) is broader than it looks. On request, a host must hand the department "copies of any documents related to the host and its members" bearing on compliance. For an association, "its members" means unit owners, and the documents that bear on a group net metering arrangement include the allocation agreement, the board resolution adopting it, and whatever the association tells owners about how credits are calculated.
A board that allocated credits by informal understanding rather than by a written agreement has nothing to produce. Papering the allocation is worth doing for that reason alone, quite apart from the internal reasons.
What to watch next
The underlying net metering tariff remains unsettled in a way this chapter does not fix. An August 2024 settlement agreement on the net metering tariff, signed by suppliers, environmental groups and consumer advocates, was neither approved nor rejected by the Public Utilities Commission that December, leaving the rate question in limbo while the administrative machinery moved ahead.
Separately, note what New Hampshire still does not have: no statute gives a unit owner or an association a right to install solar over a contrary covenant. En 900 tells you how to register a host. It does not tell a condominium board it has to let anyone put panels on the roof.
Related New Hampshire HOA Topics
Stay on top of New Hampshire HOA law
Every week: new New Hampshire legislation, court rulings, and regulatory developments affecting condos, planned communities, and property managers. Free.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.