The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Wednesday preliminarily approved a $7 billion, 10-year plan from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the three natural gas utilities to convert 280,000 customers to natural gas home heating.
The PURA draft decision gives Yankee Gas, Connecticut Natural Gas, and Southern Connecticut Gas more flexibility in making customer conversions more economical, in order to meet Malloy’s plan to make natural gas the home heating fuel of choice in Connecticut. Currently, more than half of the state businesses and residents heat with fuel oil.
PURA expects to make a final ruling Nov. 21, following a Nov. 14 hearing.
The bulk of the $7 billion cost of adding 280,000 customers to the natural gas system will be businesses and residents buying new home heating equipment. This $3-4 billion expense will be borne by the individuals making the conversion, although the state has established methods where residents can pay off the equipment purchase through their heating bills and businesses can use public-private financing.
The utility costs of expanding pipelines and hooking up new customers ($2-3 billion) will be folded into ratepayer bills. The new customers who convert to natural gas after Jan. 1 will pay a premium in their rates, so they will share the greatest burden in the cost of the expansion. Those customers will pay the premium rates for 10 years.
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