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State's Part of Energy Bill Undetermined

Posted on: Thursday, 26 January 2006, 00:00 CST

By Rob Varnon, Connecticut Post, Bridgeport

Jan. 26--Connecticut Light & Power Co. energized the first 5.3 miles of new electric power lines between Bethel and Norwalk on Wednesday, but the company is still waiting to hear how much of the $357 million cost state residents will pay.

The company did not return calls for comment on its at-tempt to energize the first segment of the 20-mile line, which it expects to complete by the end of this year. The project won state approval in 2003 and is being installed to replace older lines feeding Southwest Connecticut, which the company fears will not be able to meet rising demand.

Connecticut residents will have to pay for the new line, but electricity grid operator Independent System Operator New England is still reviewing CL&P's application to divide the project's costs among the six New England states.

"No decision has been made," Ken McDonnell, an ISO spokesman, said Wednesday. McDonnell could not provide a target date for the release of the decision, but a CL&P spokes-man said Tuesday the company expects news on the matter within weeks.

When a project is determined to be a benefit to the region's power grid, the states divide the costs among themselves based on the amount of energy each state uses.

Connecticut consumes approximately 27 percent of all power in New England and would have to pay about $96.4 million of the line's cost.

Once the ISO makes its final determination, the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control will decide how -- including over what period of time and the rate -- utilities will bill their customers.

But several states have protested the price tag of Connecticut transmission line projects, using the term "gold-plating" to describe the 12 miles of underground cable being laid.

In June 2005, an advisory committee to the ISO recommended taking out the costs of running underground cable and reducing the total amount eligible for cost sharing to $278.2 million. But those costs would be added to Connecticut's share, increasing it to $174.1 million.

The other major transmission-line project, UI and CL&P's joint 69-mile Middletown-to-Norwalk project, carries an even higher cost, at nearly $1 billion.

Samantha Crowley, a UI projects campaign manager, said the two companies expect to break ground on that line during the third quarter of this year, and finish the work by the end of 2009.

The ISO has not yet determined Connecticut's portion of the cost for the Middletown project, but that line includes 24 miles of underground construction.

In a best-case scenario, Con-necticut would pay approximately $270 million -- for the 27 percent of power used here -- for the Middletown line. The worst case, as with the Bethel-to-Norwalk project, could call for residents and business owners to pick up a much higher tab.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Connecticut Post, Bridgeport

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NU,

Source: Connecticut Post

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