Committee previews H.710 changes adding PUC‑managed decommissioning fund for renewable projects

The House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on May 13 reviewed draft changes to H.710 that would revise the statutory definition of a "single plant" for renewable energy programs and create a Public Utility Commission (PUC)‑administered decommissioning fund for electric generation and energy storage projects, with an effective date set in the draft for July 2026.

The draft now before the Senate is labeled 1.1 (May 5), Legislative Council told the committee, and it keeps the House's core single‑plant language while adding decommissioning provisions the PUC proposed. "They have added the decommissioning language from the PUC that the PUC pitched to your committee as well," Legislative Council said during the briefing.

Why it matters: the changes affect how colocated projects are treated under net‑metering and other renewable programs, and would shift the current system of project‑level surety instruments (letters of credit, bonds, escrows) to a centralized fund that the PUC would manage. Proponents say a pooled fund could lower upfront capital burdens on developers, reduce administrative work for regulators, and make repowering or recycling infrastructure more practicable; critics and some committee members pressed for details about actuarial methods, contingency planning and how the fund would be replenished after large draws.

Department and stakeholder views

Anne Margolis, deputy director of the…