Connecticut’s Siting Council has informally rejected United Illuminating's proposal to install new taller monopoles in Fairfield and Bridgeport.
Community groups and elected officials have been protesting the proposal for more than a year.
UI has been trying to finish a decade-long utilities upgrade project that stretches through some of southern Connecticut’s coastal communities. The utility company had initially proposed construction on the South side of the Metro-North train tracks. The council told them to use the North side instead.
Community members obtained a court order to halt the project. A Superior Court judge found that the Siting Council had approved a project that hadn’t been properly vetted.
UI had to re-file the project. It was rejected via straw vote on Thursday afternoon, with four votes against, two for and one abstaining. More than 400 people were watching the vote on Zoom.
Khristine Hall is a member of the council.
“I believe that, based on my reading of the record, the impacts on wetlands, the impacts on cultural resources, and the impacts on nearby residents are significant, and that there could be alternative approaches that would lessen those impacts,” Hall said.
Community members want UI to bury the power lines. The company said it would cost an additional $800 million, which ratepayers would bear.
“In both transmission and distribution projects, there are certainly times when we recommend an underground solution, but given the cost increases our customers bear for underground projects, we must offer substantial proof to regulators that an overhead solution is either not viable or would be more costly,” UI President Frank Reynolds said.
“In the case of Fairfield to Congress, we know there has been strong community advocacy for an underground design plan, but because we can achieve our reliability and resiliency objectives with a more affordable overhead route, we have always stood by our preferred alternative for the benefit of the customers we serve,” Reynolds continued.
Energy prices are a hot topic in Connecticut, which has some of the country’s highest power bills.
“With Connecticut’s high electricity rates continually in the news, it is frankly surprising to see so many elected officials and their constituents continue to push for a project design that would add half a billion dollars to Connecticut's electric rates,” said Jim Cole, VP of Projects at Avangrid.
A formal vote on whether or not to deny the construction will come at a future Siting Council meeting.
