We are currently in the process of finalizing and testing Avitar Assessing update 3.8.3 which includes the ability to export your MS-1 Report information for the DRA’s 2015 version of the report. We expect to distribute the update to our supported users during the week of August 10th. In the meantime here are a few things to keep in mind or do in preparation:

• This is the third year in which you will prepare the report in Assessing, then export a file from Assessing, which you will then import into the DRA’s fillable PDF form. Nothing new there. However, the DRA did change the form slightly for 2015 and in order to export the proper information/format you will need to first have the Avitar Assessing version 3.8.3.
• This year there are relatively few changes to the report itself. As many of us know from paying our electric bills, some of the names of utility companies have changed in the last year (e.g. “PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE” is now “PSNH DBA EVERSOURCE ENERGY”). However, Assessing will notify you if you have utilities for which you need to select a new or different standardized name and these changes only take a few moments to complete.
• This year there is also a new subsection for Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) in which you will need to separately list renewable generation facilities with whom your municipality has entered into an agreement for a payment in lieu of taxes pursuant to RSA 72:74. But this probably only applies to a handful of you, and there is a list of approved entities from which to select.
• For a more complete summary of these MS-1 changes, as well as the other fixes and features included in this update, you can review the update notes in our online documentation. The update notes also include a summary of the utility companies that are new, renamed, or removed for 2015.
• If you want to review the final report or you think the renewable generation facilities PILT changes may apply to you, you can go ahead and download the DRA’s fillable PDF form and/or the MS-1 instructions directly from the DRA web site.

Let us know if you have any questions and look for the actual update email/download beginning next week.

Thanks.