OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sHB-5507
AN ACT CONCERNING STATE AGENCY AND COURT
PROCEEDINGS RELATING TO ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION LINES.
As Amended by House "A" (LCO 5516), House "B" (LCO 6046)
House Calendar No.: 343
Senate Calendar No.: 485
Primary Analyst: TM 5/8/24
Contributing Analyst(s):
Reviewer: PR
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
CT Siting Council SCF - Potential
Revenue Gain
Minimal Minimal
CT Siting Council SCF - Potential
Cost
See Below See Below
Note: SCF=Siting Council Fund
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
Various Municipalities Potential
Revenue
Gain
See Below See Below
Explanation
The bill alters procedures in the Sitting Council's review process to
increases municipal participation, include additional considerations,
and increase existing reporting requirements for Sitting Council
approval resulting in the fiscal impacts described below.
Section 2 creates a variety of requirements around the membership
and operations of the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) and results in a
potential cost. The amendment shifts existing requirements for
municipal participation as ad-hoc members of the Siting Council but
does not increase the number of participants, resulting in no fiscal 2024HB-05507-R01-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 3
impact.
This section also empowers the Siting Council to maintain a staff with
the expertise necessary to fulfill their mission resulting in a potential
cost to the extent that additional staff are required to meet the provisions
of the amendment
1
.
Sections 3 and 10 increases the cost of the municipal participation fee
for certain applicants from $25,000 to $40,000 if the facility is within one
municipality and from $25,000 to $80,000 if the facility is in more than
one municipality with any unused funding returned to the applicant
upon completion of the Sitting Council process. This results in potential
revenue gain to some municipalities to the extent that the additional
funding offsets current participation costs.
There is also a potential revenue gain to municipalities beginning in
FY 26 to the extent they are awarded funds related to court action.
Section 8 empowers the CSC in certain conditions to impose fines for
non-compliance resulting in potential revenue for CSC. The extent of the
revenue generated will depend on the number of violations and the
restitution and fines imposed.
Section 12 results in no fiscal impact to the state as the Department
of Energy and Environmental Protection has federal funding that can be
used to hire a consultant to complete a report on the Connecticut Siting
Council.
1
The salary cost of civil engineer would be $65,473 in FY 25 and FY 26. 2024HB-05507-R01-FN.DOCX Page 3 of 3
Ratepayer Impact Statement
2
The bill results in a potential ratepayer impact. The bill creates a
variety of additional requirements and considerations for the Siting
Council in the normal process. To the extent that the additional
considerations result in the relocation of transmission lines or the
acquisition of additional property to support relocation, this could
increase costs to electric distribution companies that would be recovered
through the rate recovery process.
House "A" strikes the underlying bill resulting in the fiscal impacts
described above.
House "B" strikes section 3(a) of the underlying bill and requires
additional information from the applicant and results in no fiscal impact
to the state or municipalities.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation and the number of
proceedings that are required.
The preceding Fiscal Impact statement is prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely
for the purposes of information, summarization and explanation and does not represent the intent of the General
Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of
informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is
consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any
specific department.
2
The state and municipalities are ratepayers and therefore may be impacted by policy
changes that affect electric rates