OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
HB-5118
AN ACT CONCERNING WASTE MANAGEMENT AND
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION.
Primary Analyst: MR 4/5/22
Contributing Analyst(s): MM
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact: See Below
Municipal Impact: See Below
Explanation
Currently, the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) contains a
requirement that a certain percentage of the electric power provided to
electric ratepayers be derived from specific certain renewable energy
sources. The bill, instead, limits the Class II RPS requirement to only
Class II renewable energy sources (i.e., trash to energy facilities).
A typical waste to energy plant generates about 550 kilowatt hours
(kWh) of energy per ton of waste. At an average price of four cents per
kWh, this form of generating electricity is less expensive than other
renewable sources, and as such, a shift to less expensive forms of
supplying electricity is anticipated to lead to lower rates for the state
and municipalities ratepayers.
The bill also requires that certain compliance payments for failing to
meet the new Class II requirement be deposited into a sustainable
materials management account established by the bill, rather than be
refunded to ratepayers as current law requires. To the extent there are
compliance payments made under the bill's provisions, the bill could
result in a revenue gain to the newly established account administered
by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).
Also, this provision could result in a minimal cost to the state and 2022HB-05118-R000323-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
municipalities as ratepayers, to the extent refunds are no longer made.
Further, it requires that the Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection (DEEP) establish and administer a
sustainable materials management program to support solid waste
reduction in the state using funds from the account. This is anticipated
to result in a cost to DEEP for this purpose to the extent funding is
provided in FY 23 and FY 24.
Additionally, the bill allows DEEP to solicit proposals that are in the
ratepayers best interest, for anaerobic digestion facilities to supply
biogas for use by the natural gas distribution systems. It also requires
that the gas companies recover their: (1) net costs for purchasing the
biogas from their ratepayers, and (2) related infrastructure costs from
the biogas supplier. It also requires that DEEP’s reasonable costs
associated with the solicitations be recoverable from gas company
ratepayers. These provisions are anticipated to have a net zero impact
on the state and municipalities as a ratepayer.
Lastly, the bill makes a technical change that has no fiscal impact.
Ratepayer Impact Statement
Similarly, to the impacts on the state and municipalities as ratepayers,
the bill is anticipated to result in a savings to ratepayers associated with
the shift to a less expensive form of supplying electricity.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact described above would
continue into the future subject to the price of electricity and the volume
of electricity consumed.