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Energy Supply | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2016
Energy Supply | Note 7: Energy Supply Natural Gas Supply Unitil purchases and manages gas supply for customers served by Northern Utilities in Maine and New Hampshire as well as customers served by Fitchburg in Massachusetts. Northern Utilities’ C&I customers are entitled to purchase their natural gas supply from third-party gas suppliers. Many of Northern Utilities’ largest and some medium C&I customers purchase their gas supply from third party suppliers, while most small C&I customers, as well as all residential customers, purchase their gas supply from Northern Utilities under regulated rates and tariffs. As of December 2016, 78% of Unitil’s largest New Hampshire gas customers, representing 27% of Unitil’s New Hampshire gas sales and 66% of Unitil’s largest Maine customers, representing 26% of Unitil’s Maine gas sales, are purchasing gas supply from a third-party supplier. Fitchburg’s residential and C&I business customers are entitled to purchase their natural gas supply from third-party gas suppliers. Many large and some medium C&I customers purchase their gas supply from third-party suppliers while most of Fitchburg’s residential and small C&I customers continue to purchase their supplies at regulated rates from Fitchburg. As of December 2016, 79% of Unitil’s largest Massachusetts gas customers, representing 30% of Unitil’s Massachusetts gas sales, are purchasing gas supply from third-party suppliers. The approved costs associated with natural gas supplied to customers who do not contract with third-party suppliers are recovered on a pass-through basis through periodically adjusted rates and are included in Cost of Gas Sales in the Consolidated Statements of Earnings. Regulated Natural Gas Supply Northern Utilities purchases a majority of its natural gas from U.S. domestic and Canadian suppliers under contracts of one year or less, and on occasion from producers and marketers on the spot market. Northern Utilities arranges for gas transportation and delivery to its system through its own long-term contracts with various interstate pipeline and storage facilities, through peaking supply contracts delivered to its system, or in the case of liquefied natural gas (LNG), via over the road trucking of supplies to storage facilities within Northern Utilities’ service territory. Northern Utilities has available under firm contract 115,000 million British Thermal Units (MMbtu) per day of year-round and seasonal transportation capacity to its distribution facilities, and 3.6 billion cubic feet (BCF) of underground storage. As a supplement to pipeline natural gas, Northern Utilities owns an LNG storage and vaporization facility. This plant is used principally during peak load periods to augment the supply of pipeline natural gas. Fitchburg purchases natural gas under contracts from producers and marketers on the spot market. Fitchburg arranges for gas transportation and delivery to its system through its own long-term contracts with Tennessee Gas Pipeline, through peaking supply contracts delivered to its system, or in the case of LNG or liquefied propane gas (LPG), via trucking of supplies to storage facilities within Fitchburg’s service territory. Fitchburg has available under firm contract 14,057 MMbtu per day of year-round transportation and 0.33 BCF of underground storage capacity to its distribution facilities. As a supplement to pipeline natural gas, Fitchburg owns a propane air gas plant and an LNG storage and vaporization facility. These plants are used principally during peak load periods to augment the supply of pipeline natural gas. Electric Power Supply Fitchburg, Unitil Energy, and Unitil Power each are members of the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) and participate in the Independent System Operator—New England (ISO-NE) markets for the purpose of facilitating wholesale electric power supply transactions, which are necessary to serve Unitil’s electric customers with their supply of electricity. Unitil’s customers in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts are entitled to purchase their electric supply from competitive third-party suppliers. As of December 2016, 80% of Unitil’s largest New Hampshire customers, representing 26% of Unitil’s New Hampshire electric energy sales and 85% of Unitil’s largest Massachusetts customers, representing 34% of Unitil’s Massachusetts electric energy sales, are purchasing their electric power supply in the competitive market. Additionally, cities and towns in Massachusetts may, with approval from the MDPU, implement municipal aggregations whereby the municipality purchases electric power on behalf of all citizens and businesses that do not opt out of the aggregation. The Towns of Lunenburg and Ashby have active municipal aggregations. Customers in Lunenburg comprise about 19% of Fitchburg’s customer base and customers in Ashby comprise another 5%. In New Hampshire, the number of residential customers purchasing from a third party supplier has increased significantly since 2014 and currently stands at 13% of residential customers. Notwithstanding this recent activity, most residential and small commercial customers continue to purchase their electric supply through Unitil’s electric distribution utilities under regulated energy rates and tariffs. Regulated Electric Power Supply In order to provide regulated electric supply service to their customers, Unitil’s electric distribution utilities enter into load-following wholesale electric power supply contracts to purchase electric supply from various wholesale suppliers. Unitil Energy currently has power supply contracts with various wholesale suppliers for the provision of Default Service to its customers. Currently, with approval of the NHPUC, Unitil Energy purchases Default Service power supply contracts for small, medium and large customers every six months for 100% of the supply requirements. Fitchburg has power supply contracts with various wholesale suppliers for the provision of Basic Service electric supply. MDPU policy dictates the pricing structure and duration of each of these contracts. Basic Service power supply contracts for residential and for small and medium general service customers are acquired every six months, are 12 months in duration and provide 50% of the supply requirements. On June 13, 2012, the MDPU approved Fitchburg’s request to discontinue the procurement process for Fitchburg’s large customers and become the load-serving entity for these customers. Currently, all Basic Service power supply requirements for large accounts are assigned to Fitchburg’s ISO-NE settlement account where Fitchburg procures electric supply through ISO-NE’s real-time market. The NHPUC and MDPU regularly review alternatives to their procurement policy, which may lead to future changes in this regulated power supply procurement structure. Regional Electric Transmission and Power Markets Fitchburg, Unitil Energy and Unitil Power, as well as virtually all New England electric utilities, are participants in the ISO-NE markets. ISO-NE is the Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) in New England. The purpose of ISO-NE is to assure reliable operation of the bulk power system in the most economical manner for the region. Substantially all operation and dispatching of electric generation and bulk transmission capacity in New England are performed on a regional basis. The ISO-NE tariff imposes generating capacity and reserve obligations, and provides for the use of major transmission facilities and support payments associated therewith. The most notable benefits of the ISO-NE are coordinated, reliable power system operation and a supportive business environment for the development of competitive electric markets. Electric Power Supply Divestiture In connection with the implementation of retail choice, Unitil Power, which formerly functioned as the wholesale power supply provider for Unitil Energy, and Fitchburg divested their long-term power supply contracts through the sale of the entitlements to the electricity sold under those contracts. Unitil Energy and Fitchburg recover in their rates all the costs associated with the divestiture of their power supply portfolios and have secured regulatory approval from the NHPUC and MDPU, respectively, for the recovery of power supply-related stranded costs and other restructuring-related regulatory assets. The companies have a continuing obligation to submit regulatory filings that demonstrate their compliance with regulatory mandates and provide for timely recovery of costs in accordance with their approved restructuring plans. Long-Term Renewable Contracts Fitchburg has entered into long-term renewable contracts for the purchase of clean energy and/or renewable energy certificates (“RECs”) pursuant to Massachusetts legislation, specifically, An Act Relative to Green Communities (the “Green Communities Act”) of 2008 and An Act Relative to Competitively Priced Electricity in the Commonwealth of 2012, and the MDPU’s regulations implementing the legislation. The generating facilities associated with three of these contracts have been constructed and are now operating. In 2016, the Company participated in a multi-state procurement for long-term renewable contracts and several contracts from this solicitation are currently under negotiation. These are expected to be finalized and submitted to MDPU for approval in 2017. Additional long-term clean energy contracts are expected in compliance with the Acts of 2016, An Act to Promote Energy Diversity (“Energy Diversity Act”). Fitchburg recovers the costs associated with long-term renewable contracts on a fully reconciling basis through a MDPU-approved cost recovery mechanism.

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