Unitil NH Battery Sales Reference

Concord, Capital Region & Seacoast Pockets · Q3 2026 · Internal Use Only

What kind of market this is

• A quantitative-pending territory: the structure is pinned, the exact rates aren't yet → we describe how their bill and net metering work with full confidence, and we quote zero dollars until the tariff numbers are verified at proposal time
• The same NEM formula as the rest of NH applies — exports earn less than retail → the battery keeps power home at full value; the size of the gap gets computed on their actual bill
• Unitil runs a real whole-house time-of-use rate with a 3–8 PM peak → a genuine battery lever whose dollars we don't quote until the per-kWh prices are confirmed
• Nobody's standing behind their system → Top Tier takes it over: fresh 10-year workmanship warranty after inspection, Align Solar Protection standard, one number to call

Standing Rules (Do NOT Violate)

• ❌ NEVER coach reps to disqualify based on home tenure. Resale story is real — not "walk away."
• ❌ NEVER claim "all warranties transfer." Workmanship: with written consent. Align: non-transferable. Manufacturer: per OEM terms.
• ❌ NEVER fabricate inspection findings.
• ❌ NEVER quote a bill-reduction factor as a guarantee.
• ❌ 85+ confirmation call required. Customer confirms own finances, no POA, sound mind.
• ❌ Financing ends before age 91. 75 → 15-year max. 80 → 10-year max.
• ❌ Honest cancellation window. Overselling = free customer exit + $1K–$1.5K clawback.
• ❌ Certified before selling.
• ❌ NEVER promise takeover before inspection. Top Tier can decline non-compliant systems with written notice within 7 days.
• ❌ NEVER quote dollar savings, spread figures, or arbitrage numbers in this territory. Unitil's exact per-kWh rates are pending tariff confirmation. The rule is absolute: structure yes, dollars no. Every proposal states "exact rates verified at proposal time."
• ❌ NEVER quote TOU per-kWh prices or a computed TOU spread. The time-of-use structure (windows, commitment) is confirmed; the prices are not. Unitil's own description — on-peak roughly three times the standard rate — may be referenced as their characterization, never converted into cents or dollars by us.
• ❌ NEVER quote the NHCEF $3,000 here. It requires an Eversource NH account. Unitil customers are not eligible.
• ❌ NEVER pitch VPP or battery-program income. No battery compensation program exists in Unitil territory.
• ❌ NEVER promise locked terms to a post-2017 customer. Only pre-September-2017 interconnections hold the statutory lock (through 12/31/2040). Confirm the interconnection date first.
• ❌ NEVER claim a state rebate or federal credit. SB 303 repealed the rebate; the ITC expired 12/31/2025.
• ❌ NEVER assume the supply rate. Community Power municipalities replace Unitil's default service — check the supplier line.

Go get the sale. A battery is a strong product — clean energy, independence, backup, long-term savings. A customer who wants one for any honest reason is a good sale. We never walk away over price or low savings — that's the customer's call. Do right by the customer, protect the company, be honest.

PART A — The Pitch

The Problem

Your exports are worth less than your power — by state formula. New Hampshire's net metering credits exported solar at the full supply and transmission rates but only 25% of the distribution charge. The exact cents depend on Unitil's current tariff, which we verify on your actual bill — but the shape is fixed by PUC order: every exported kWh comes back at a discount.

Rep layer: The structure is the pitch here; the customer's own bill supplies the numbers. Pull it up together, find the distribution line, and do the 25% math live — that's more credible than any preprinted figure, and in this territory it's also the only honest option.

Your rate has a rush hour. Unitil offers a whole-house time-of-use rate: on-peak 3–8 PM weekdays, mid-peak 6 AM–3 PM, off-peak overnight and all weekend, on a 12-month commitment. By Unitil's own description, on-peak runs roughly three times the standard rate. For a solar home, that's the familiar bad geometry: panels strongest at midday, fading exactly as the expensive window opens.

Rep layer: Whether the customer is on TOU or standard, the 3–8 PM window is the story — it's when their solar retreats and their evening life begins. If they're on TOU, their own bill shows the per-period prices, and you can work from those printed numbers directly.

Winter is the outage season, and solar alone won't run the house. December 2008: 400,000+ New Hampshire customers dark, 211 of 256 municipalities, restorations running fourteen days — through the Capital region as everywhere. October 2017: 230,000+ out, 100+ hour outages. Grid-tied solar shuts off in every one.

Rep layer: Ask where they were in December 2008. Concord remembers.

Nobody's standing behind your system. The installer shakeout left orphaned systems across the state — expired workmanship warranties, inverters aging into their failure window, no one to call.

Rep layer: Plants the takeover seed. "Who installed it? When did they last call back?"

The Solution

The battery keeps home the power that was leaving at a discount. Stored and self-consumed kWh earn full retail value instead of the formula-discounted export credit. The per-kWh gap gets computed from their actual bill at proposal time — the mechanism is certain; the number is theirs.

Rep layer: "I'm not going to quote you a made-up number — we compute this from your bill." In a pending-rates territory, that sentence is a strength, not an apology.

If you're on the time-of-use rate, the battery works your rush hour. Stored midday solar discharging through the 3–8 PM window replaces the day's most expensive purchases. The structure is confirmed; the dollars come from the per-period prices printed on their own bill.

Rep layer: For TOU customers this is a genuine lever and their bill has the numbers — use theirs, never ours. For standard-rate customers, note the TOU rate exists and that a battery makes it more attractive, without recommending a rate switch we haven't priced.

The battery runs the house through a New Hampshire winter outage. Heat circulation, well pump, refrigeration, lights — through the ice storm, recharging from the roof each daylight hour, silent, no fuel run.

Rep layer: The purchase, in this state. Winter loads first.

We take it over and stand behind it. Top Tier as single point of contact: fresh 10-year workmanship and roof-penetration warranty at takeover (after inspection), the 5-year Align Solar Protection contract standard ($0 deductible, insurance-backed, non-transferable), OEM-warranty coordination.

Rep layer: Transfer precision as always — workmanship with written consent, Align non-transferable, OEM per terms. Never promise takeover before inspection.

Urgency

The storm clock. NH's marquee outages are winter events. September installs are ready for ice season; January deliberations arrive after the outage they were for.

The rate clock. Supply rates reset against the New England market; nothing about waiting makes the bill smaller.

The direction-of-travel clock. The state rebate is repealed, the ITC expired, and no program exists here. There is nothing to wait for — that's the honest urgency.

What we never do: invent a deadline, or borrow Eversource's funding clock. Unitil territory has no funding clock; it has winter.

The Close

Step 1 — The formula. "New Hampshire credits your exports at less than retail — full supply and transmission, but only a quarter of distribution. Let's find those lines on your bill and compute your actual number together."

Step 2 — The mechanism. "The battery keeps that power home at full value — and if you're on Unitil's time-of-use rate, it also covers your 3-to-8 PM window, the most expensive hours on your bill, using your bill's own prices."

Step 3 — The winter, and the stack. "And you remember December 2008 — solar alone was off the whole time. The battery runs the house and recharges from your roof every day it's out. The bill math we compute from your actual rates; the winter protection and the 10-year warranty on your whole system are certain either way."

Sell Hard, Sell Honest

Unitil is the territory where our discipline is most visible: the structure is fully pinned — the PUC formula, the TOU windows, the statutory cohorts — and the exact rates are pending, so we quote zero dollars and compute everything from the customer's own bill. Reps who embrace that ("I won't quote a number I can't source — let's use yours") convert the constraint into credibility. The stack sells without invented figures: winter resilience, the export-haircut mechanism computed live, the rescue, no sales tax, and rates verified in front of the customer. Never let a pending number become a guessed number.

PART B — The Deep Reference

1. Orientation

• Utility: Unitil (Unitil Energy Systems) — Concord and the Capital region, plus Seacoast pockets around Exeter/Hampton.
• Market type: Qualitative pending-rates — NEM-spread + TOU-lever structure confirmed, exact tariff figures pending; zero-dollar-claims register until pinned.
• Default config: backup-capable ($18,500 / $23,942 / ~$228); self-consumption ($17,000 / $22,068 / ~$210).
• Battery brand: no incentive attaches to battery brand here — recommend on fit.

2. How the Unitil Bill Works

Two halves, like every NH IOU. Delivery: $16.22/mo customer charge plus per-kWh distribution, transmission, and rider lines — current per-kWh figures pending tariff confirmation, verified from the customer's bill at proposal time. Supply: Unitil default service (resets seasonally) unless the supplier line shows a competitive supplier or the town's Community Power aggregation. Rep skill: in this territory the customer's bill IS the rate card — read the actual lines, use the actual numbers.

The time-of-use option (structure confirmed): whole-house TOU — Mid-Peak 6 AM–3 PM, On-Peak 3–8 PM, Off-Peak 8 PM–6 AM; weekends and holidays off-peak; 12-month commitment. Per-period prices pending; Unitil characterizes on-peak as roughly three times the standard rate. Available to residential customers; whether NEM customers may combine it is verified per customer at proposal time.

3. Net Metering — Two Cohorts

Cohort 1 — interconnected before September 1, 2017: full retail 1:1 on the standard tariff, statutory lock through December 31, 2040 (RSA 362-A:9, XV). Real, citable protection — confirm the interconnection date.

Cohort 2 — September 1, 2017 or later (NEM 2.0): monthly netting, export credit per PUC Order 26,029: 100% default energy service + 100% transmission + 25% distribution — the same formula binding all three NH IOUs, maintained by Order 27,074 (Nov 2024), commission-revisable, nothing pending. Stable, not locked. Exact credit in cents: computed from the customer's current tariff lines at proposal time.

The battery math lives in the gap: 75% of the distribution charge is never credited on exports — recovered on every stored-and-self-consumed kWh. Mechanism certain; cents computed per customer.

4. Rate Reality + The Honest Math

The honest math in this territory is a method, not a number: (1) read the customer's delivery lines; (2) compute the export credit from the formula; (3) the spread = 75% × their distribution rate; (4) if on TOU, the arbitrage = their printed on-peak minus off-peak. No pre-computed dollars exist in this guide by design — the refinement queue holds the tariff pull that upgrades this territory to full math.

5. Incentives & Programs — the Straight Talk

None. No Unitil battery program or VPP. NHCEF is Eversource-only (active Eversource account required) — the honest geography answer when neighbors talk. No state rebate (SB 303, permanent), no ITC (expired 12/31/2025). No sales tax in New Hampshire — the entire purchase. Optional municipal property-tax exemption (RSA 72:62) — customer checks with their town. Nothing in our pitch can be defunded, because nothing in our pitch is a program.

6. System Rescue Value — The System Takeover

This applies to any customer with existing solar — and it's identical across every Top Tier market. These are takeover facts, not market-specific.

The Orphaned Solar Customer Problem. Many solar customers installed during the 2019–2024 growth years and now face:

• An original installer that's gone out of business, been acquired, or stopped servicing residential (especially common after the federal tax credit expired Dec 2025)
• A 10-year workmanship warranty that's unenforceable (installer is gone)
• An inverter approaching or past typical failure windows
• No service relationship, and most companies refuse to service systems they didn't install

The Inverter Failure Reality. Inverters are the weakest link. Panels last 25–30 years; the inverter fails much sooner.

• SolarEdge string inverters: 8–15 years (12-yr standard warranty)
• Enphase microinverters: 10–20 years (25-yr warranty)
• Industry-wide: 70–90% of systems experience inverter failure within the panel lifespan
• When it fails on an orphaned system: production stops, bills jump to full retail, most providers won't quote it, out-of-pocket replacement is $3,500–5,000, and the customer is down 4–8 weeks.

What Top Tier's takeover provides (formalized through a Service Warranty Agreement with a brand-new 10-year Limited Workmanship and Roof Penetration Warranty):

• A new 10-year Top Tier workmanship warranty (regardless of system age)
• Manufacturer warranty claim handling (Top Tier chases the claim + labor, not the customer)
• Inverter replacement coverage when it fails within manufacturer warranty (customer pays nothing for the work)
• Single point of contact; monitoring setup help; performance verification at inspection

The $11K System Takeover Bundle (the exact 5-tile bundle on the proposal):

How to use it: "On top of the bill math, you're picking up over $11K of bundled services that aren't sold separately. If your inverter fails in year 12, the warranty handling alone is worth a few hundred; the replacement coordination saves $3–5K; the Align contract is $1,500 you'd otherwise pay. It adds up."

Quantifying the rescue value:

This is independent of bill savings — the rescue alone can be worth $4,000–7,500. NH-specific: boom-era systems are aging into the inverter failure window, post-ITC replacement economics are gone, and the installer shakeout has orphaned a significant customer population.

7. Outage Reality

December 2008 ice storm: 400,000+ out statewide, 211 of 256 municipalities, fourteen-day restorations — the Capital region included. October 2017 windstorm: 230,000+ out, 100+ hour outages. Winter outages in NH are pipe-freeze and safety events. Grid-tied solar shuts off in every one; solar plus battery carries heat circulation, well pump, refrigeration, and lights through restoration, recharging from the roof daily.

8. Hidden Costs Avoided / What You Own vs What You Rent

Align Solar Protection — the terms (get these right):

• 5-year term, $0 deductible, insurance-backed by American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, non-transferable to subsequent owners.
• Covers: mechanical breakdown of existing PV (panels, inverters/optimizers, racking) — parts, labor, service calls.
• Does NOT cover: the new battery (own warranty), wear-and-tear, weather/hail, pre-existing conditions, roof issues.
• Age limits: panels/microinverters under 15 years; string/central inverters under 7 years. Not every system fully qualifies — disclose at inspection.
• It's ONE of three layers: (1) equipment manufacturer warranties, (2) Top Tier's 10-yr workmanship, (3) the 5-yr Align contract. Never call it "full coverage."
• NEVER say: "Everything's covered" / "never worry again" / "Align is your full coverage" / "you can extend beyond 5 years" / "Align transfers when you sell."

9. Battery Products

• Backup config (the point — this is a winter-outage state): Tesla Powerwall 3 (13.5 kWh; Redline: $20,500), FranklinWH aPower 2 (15 kWh; Redline: $20,500). Not compatible with HDM.

• Self-consumption config: Enphase IQ 5P (10 kWh; Redline: $15,500 SC / $17,600 BU), SolarEdge Home Battery (9.7 kWh usable; Redline: $14,500 SC / $16,000 BU), SolarEdge Nexis (self-consumption only pending crew backup training; Redline: $15,500 SC).

• Unitil note: no incentive attaches to battery brand in this territory — selection is purely about backup depth for winter events, inverter compatibility, and capacity. Confirm config in the tool.

• Financing terms vary by lender — price deals through the proposal tool.

10. Objection Handling

"So what will I actually save?"

"Honest answer: I compute it from your bill, not from a brochure. New Hampshire's formula means your exports earn less than retail — we'll find your distribution line and calculate your exact gap right now. What I won't do is quote you a number I can't source. The winter backup and the 10-year warranty don't depend on that math at all."

"My neighbor got $3,000 for their battery."

"They're an Eversource customer — that fund requires an Eversource account. It's real, and it's not available here. What's true in your territory: the same export haircut, the same winters, and a time-of-use rate that makes a battery genuinely useful."

"Should I switch to the time-of-use rate?"

"Maybe — and I won't recommend it until we've priced it against your usage with the actual per-period rates, which we do at proposal time. What I can say now: a battery makes TOU dramatically friendlier, because it moves your solar into the expensive evening window."

"My installer said I have one-to-one net metering."

"Depends when you interconnected. Before September 2017 — you do, protected by statute through 2040. After that, exports earn full supply and transmission but only a quarter of distribution. Your bill has the lines; let's compute yours."

"I'll wait for a better deal."

"There's nothing scheduled to arrive — the state repealed its rebate, the federal credit ended, and Unitil has no program. Waiting buys another winter of outage risk and nothing else."

"A generator is cheaper."

"For the outage alone, maybe — but it needs fuel mid-emergency, sits idle all year, and never touches a bill. The battery runs silently through the storm and refuels from your roof every morning of a multi-day outage — which is what December 2008 was."

11. DO SAY / NEVER SAY

12. Required Disclosures

1. ☐ Exact Unitil rates are verified from the customer's current bill and tariff at proposal time; no savings figures are estimated in advance in this territory.
2. ☐ Export credits under the alternative net metering tariff are calculated per PUC-approved formula and change with supply and delivery rates; customers interconnected on or after September 1, 2017 are not subject to a statutory rate lock, and tariff terms may be revised by the Commission.
3. ☐ Customers interconnected before September 1, 2017 retain standard-tariff treatment terminating December 31, 2040 per RSA 362-A:9; interconnection date must be verified.
4. ☐ No utility, state, or federal battery incentive or compensation program currently exists for Unitil NH customers. The NHCEF incentive requires an Eversource NH account.
5. ☐ Time-of-use rate enrollment carries a 12-month commitment; rate-switch suitability is evaluated with actual per-period prices at proposal time and is not guaranteed to reduce costs.
6. ☐ Customers purchasing supply through Community Power aggregation or competitive suppliers have different supply rates, which affect both bills and export credits.
7. ☐ System takeover is contingent on passing Top Tier's site inspection; Top Tier may decline non-compliant systems with written notice within 7 days.
8. ☐ The Align Solar Protection contract is non-transferable and does not extend original equipment manufacturers' warranties. Workmanship warranty transfer requires written consent.
9. ☐ Backup power capability depends on selected equipment and configuration; not all home loads may be backed up simultaneously.

13. Quick-Reference Numbers (dated — confirm before quoting)

• THE REGISTER: QUALITATIVE PENDING-RATES — structure pinned, dollars from the customer's bill, zero pre-computed figures
• Customer charge $16.22/mo (pinned). All other rates: PENDING — read from the customer's bill; zero dollars quoted.
• NEM formula (all NH IOUs): 100% supply + 100% transmission + 25% distribution (Order 26,029/27,074); spread = 75% × customer's distribution rate.
• Cohorts: pre-9/1/2017 = statutory full-retail lock through 12/31/2040 (RSA 362-A:9, XV); on/after = NEM 2.0, stable not locked.
• TOU structure: Mid-Peak 6AM–3PM / On-Peak 3–8PM / Off-Peak 8PM–6AM, weekends off-peak, 12-month commitment; prices pending.
• Programs: NONE; NHCEF = Eversource-only. No state rebate, no ITC, NO SALES TAX.
• Default config: backup $18,500 / self-consumption $17,000
• Rescue expected value $4,000–7,500+.
• Storm anchors: Dec 2008 (400K+, 14 days, 211/256 towns), Oct 2017 (230K+, 100+ hr).

14. Sell Hard, Sell Honest

(See PART A closing — the register holds: zero unsourced dollars, the customer's bill as the rate card, structure and winter carrying the close.)

Customer Archetypes

The 2008 Veteran. Fourteen dark December days in the Capital region. Lead resilience.

The TOU Household. Already on time-of-use — their bill has real per-period prices, and the battery's rush-hour story computes from their own paper. The strongest quantitative conversation available in this territory.

The One-to-One Believer. Post-2017, certain of full net metering. The formula, their bill, live math.

The Statutory NEM 1.0 Holder. Pre-2017, protected through 2040. Backup and rescue; never disturb the tariff.

The Eversource-Envious. Heard about the $3,000. Honest geography answer, pivot to structure.

The Orphan. Installer gone. The rescue is the purchase.

Reading the Bill (rep skill)

(1) Supplier line — Unitil default, competitive, or Community Power. (2) Customer charge — $16.22. (3) Distribution line — the spread source: 75% of it is the battery's per-kWh recovery; compute it live. (4) TOU period lines (if enrolled) — the printed arbitrage numbers. (5) Export credits — effective ¢/kWh against the formula. (6) Usage history — winter peaks for backup sizing.

Final Thoughts

Unitil is where the platform's honesty is the product: everything structural is pinned — the formula, the cohorts, the TOU windows — and every dollar is computed from the customer's own bill because we won't quote what we haven't verified. Reps who embrace that ("I won't quote a number I can't source — let's use yours") convert the constraint into credibility. The stack sells without invented figures: winter resilience, the export-haircut mechanism computed live, the rescue, no sales tax, and rates verified in front of the customer. Never let a pending number become a guessed number.