Sec. 16-245f. Funding of certain disbursements to the General Fund. Funding of stranded costs through rate reduction bonds. Restrictions. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 16-245f. Funding of certain disbursements to the General Fund. Funding of stranded costs through rate reduction bonds. Restrictions. An electric company or electric distribution company shall submit to the department an application for a financing order with respect to any proposal to sustain funding of conservation and load management and renewable energy investment programs by substituting disbursements to the General Fund from proceeds of rate reduction bonds for such disbursements from the Energy Conservation and Load Management Fund established by section 16-245m and from the Renewable Energy Investment Fund established by section 16-245n, and may submit to the department an application for a financing order with respect to the following stranded costs: (1) The cost of mitigation efforts, as calculated pursuant to subsection (c) of section 16-245e; (2) generation-related regulatory assets, as calculated pursuant to subsection (e) of section 16-245e; and (3) those long-term contract costs that have been reduced to a fixed present value through the buyout, buydown, or renegotiation of such contracts, as calculated pursuant to subsection (f) of section 16-245e. No stranded costs shall be funded with the proceeds of rate reduction bonds unless (A) the electric company or electric distribution company proves to the satisfaction of the department that the savings attributable to such funding will be directly passed on to customers through lower rates, and (B) the department determines such funding will not result in giving the electric distribution company or any generation entities or affiliates an unfair competitive advantage. The department shall hold a hearing for each such electric distribution company to determine the amount of disbursements to the General Fund from proceeds of rate reduction bonds that may be substituted for such disbursements from the Energy Conservation and Load Management Fund established by section 16-245m and from the Renewable Energy Investment Fund established by section 16-245n, and thereby constitute transition property and the portion of stranded costs that may be included in such funding and thereby constitute transition property. Any hearing shall be conducted as a contested case in accordance with chapter 54, except that any hearing with respect to a financing order or other order to sustain funding for conservation and load management and renewable energy investment programs by substituting the disbursement to the General Fund from the Energy Conservation and Load Management Fund established by section 16-245m and from the Renewable Energy Investment Fund established by section 16-245n shall not be a contested case, as defined in section 4-166. The department shall not include any rate reduction bonds as debt of an electric distribution company in determining the capital structure of the company in a rate-making proceeding, for calculating the company's return on equity or in any manner that would impact the electric distribution company for rate-making purposes, and shall not approve such rate reduction bonds that include covenants that have provisions prohibiting any change to their appointment of an administrator of the Energy Conservation and Load Management Fund. Nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to affect the terms of subsection (b) of section 16-245m.

      (P.A. 98-28, S. 9, 117; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 46; Sept. 8 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-1, S. 3; P.A. 04-180, S. 1.)

      History: P.A. 98-28 effective July 1, 1998; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 added provisions for a proposal to avoid disbursements from the Energy Conservation and Load Management and Renewable Energy Investment funds to the General Fund in the implementation of the budget for the biennium ending June 30, 2005, effective August 20, 2003; Sept. 8 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-1 required the submission of an application for a financing order in the case of proposals to sustain certain funding of conservation and load management and renewable energy investment programs, effective September 10, 2003; P.A. 04-180 made technical changes and deleted reference to Sec. 20 of P.A. 03-2, effective June 1, 2004.