Hull Light Board Adopts Revised Net Metering Rate, Extends Solar Credit Deadline to March

HULL -- February 26, 2026, Hull Municipal Light Board adopts revised net metering rate, cutting installed kilowatt charge and extending credit window. The board voted Thursday to adopt rate change 4, recommended by energy consultant Amarok and the Energy Management Working and Information Committee, reducing the installed kilowatt charge from $4.05 to $2 per kilowatt per month and setting bill credits at 75 percent of the retail rate, approximately $0.14 per kilowatt hour. The minimum monthly bill is set at $19.54, combining the $9.11 customer charge and the $10.43 emergency generator charge. Critically, the board extended the annual credit expiration date from December 31 to March 31, a change the board's software can accommodate. A competing proposal, rate change 5, which would have eliminated the $2 installed charge entirely, was rejected in part because Amarok warned it would increase year-end unspent credits on an 8.64 kilowatt system from $471 to $686, reducing cost recovery for the department's roughly 6,200 total ratepayers by an estimated $9,600 per year. The board also heard from accountant Tracy Bond, who clarified questions about the department's 80-page DPU annual return, noting Hull Light's OPEB fund is more than 100 percent funded, a distinction among the 18 Massachusetts light departments her firm audits.