Bill Text: CT HB05544 | 2012 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning Storm Preparation And Emergency Response.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-03-16 - Public Hearing 03/20 [HB05544 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2012-HB05544-Introduced.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 5544
February Session, 2012		LCO No. 2510
		*02510_______ET_*
Referred to Committee on Energy and Technology
Introduced by:
(ET)

AN ACT CONCERNING STORM PREPARATION AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall initiate a docket to establish standards for acceptable performance by each electric company, electric distribution company and telephone company to ensure the reliability of such company's services, in any emergency, as defined in section 16-32e of the general statutes, and to prevent, minimize and restore any long-term service outages or disruptions caused by such emergency. On or before November 1, 2012, the authority shall submit a report identifying the standards established by the authority pursuant to such docket and any recommendations concerning legislative changes necessary to implement such standards to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to energy and technology, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes.

(b) The authority shall, in the docket initiated pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, review:

(1) Each electric company's, electric distribution company's and telephone company's current practices concerning service restoration after an emergency. Such review shall include, but not be limited to, an analysis of any such company's (A) estimates concerning potential damage and service outages prior to any emergency, (B) damage and service outage assessments after any emergency, (C) restoration management after any emergency, including access to alternate restoration resources via regional and reciprocal aid contracts, (D) planning for at-risk and vulnerable customers, (E) communication policies with state and local officials and customers, including individual customer restoration estimates and the accuracy of such estimates, and (F) need for mutual assistance during any emergency;

(2) The adequacy of each such company's infrastructure, facilities and equipment, which shall include, but not be limited to, an analysis of (A) whether such infrastructure, facilities and equipment are in good repair and capable of meeting operational standards, (B) whether such company is following standard industry practice concerning operation and maintenance of such infrastructure, facilities and equipment, (C) the age and condition of such infrastructure, facilities and equipment, (D) whether maintenance of such infrastructure, facilities and equipment has been delayed, (E) whether such company had access to adequate replacement equipment for such infrastructure, facilities and equipment during the course of such emergency, and (F) any distribution asset management strategy employed by such company;

(3) Coordination efforts between each electric company and electric distribution company and any telecommunications company, community antenna television company or certified competitive video service provider, as those terms are defined in section 16-1 of the general statutes, including coordinated planning before any emergency, coordinated restoration efforts after any emergency and plans for emergency generators or back-up battery power where necessary to restore service and maintain communication;

(4) Tree trimming policies of each electric company and electric distribution company and shall determine (A) the amount spent by each electric company and electric distribution company during the past five years for tree trimming, the amount such company sought for tree trimming and the amount allowed for tree trimming by the authority, (B) each such company's system average interruption duration index, as defined in section 16-245y of the general statutes, caused by falling trees and limbs, (C) the impact of expanding the area adjacent to distribution lines for tree trimming, including the cost of such expansion to ratepayers and the likelihood that such expansion would decrease damage to infrastructure, facilities and equipment used to distribute electricity and decrease service outage frequency or duration, and (D) the percentage of service outages during Hurricane Irene and the October 2011 storm caused by trees and limbs outside the current trim area based on an analysis of the quantity of prior tree trimming; and

(5) Any other policy, practice or information that the authority determines relevant to a review of each electric company's, electric distribution company's and telephone company's ability to ensure the reliability of such company's services in an emergency and to prevent, minimize and restore any long-term service outages or disruptions caused by such emergency.

(c) After conducting any review in accordance with subsection (b) of this section, the authority shall establish standards for:

(1) Minimum staffing levels for any electric company, electric distribution company or telephone company, relative to such company's number of customers, for outage planning and restoration personnel, including linemen, technicians and system engineers, tree trimming crews and personnel responsible for directing operations and communicating with state, municipal and regional officials. Such staffing standards may reflect different staffing levels based on the severity of any emergency. Such personnel shall be certified and have appropriate training for any responsibilities during an emergency or storm event and the authority may establish standards for annual emergency training and exercises for such personnel;

(2) Prioritizing electric company, electric distribution company and telephone company personnel and crew deployment and service restoration on a regional basis. In establishing such standards, the authority will take into consideration at-risk and vulnerable customers. The authority may consider a requirement that any such company's tree trimming crews be deployed to any local emergency operations center or public works department to coordinate road clearing and to help identify and mitigate safety concerns;

(3) (A) Reciprocal aid contracts between any Connecticut electric company, electric distribution company or telephone company and any out-of-state utility company, (B) emergency response contracts between any Connecticut electric company or electric distribution company and any electrical or tree trimming contractor, and (C) utilizing any contractor with the skill to address any aspect of a service outage;

(4) Communication and coordination between any electric company, electric distribution company or telephone company and any state, municipal or emergency operations center official concerning emergency preparation, road clearing and the establishment of restoration priorities;

(5) Tree trimming by each electric company and electric distribution company to reduce the likelihood of service outages caused by trees and limbs;

(6) Communication and coordination between any electric company, electric distribution company or telephone company and the public including, but not limited to, standards concerning the use of any emergency notification system to notify the public of service restoration estimates and any dangerous conditions;

(7) Timely notification by any electric company, electric distribution company or telephone company to any relevant state or municipal agency or official including, but not limited to, any public safety agency or official, of any emergency and standards for coordination and communication between such company and such agency or official;

(8) Communication and coordination between any electric company, electric distribution company or telephone company and each municipality including, but not limited to, the identification of staging areas for emergency response equipment during any emergency;

(9) The operation of any electric company's, electric distribution company's or telephone company's emergency call center during any emergency; and

(10) The training of personnel not employed by any electric company, electric distribution company or telephone company to assist such company during any emergency.

(d) The authority may establish as it deems fit any other standards for acceptable performance by any electric company, electric distribution company or telephone company to ensure the reliability of such company's services in any emergency and to prevent, minimize and restore any long-term service outages or disruptions caused by such emergency.

(e) The authority, upon a finding that any electric company, electric distribution company or telephone company failed to comply with any standard of acceptable performance adopted pursuant to this section or any order of the authority, or failed to submit an emergency response and infrastructure report pursuant to section 2 of this act, shall make orders to enforce such standards and may levy civil penalties against such company, pursuant to section 16-41 of the general statutes, not to exceed two and one-half per cent of such electric or electric distribution company's annual distribution revenue for any related series of noncompliance by any electric company or electric distribution company and not to exceed twenty-million dollars for any related series of noncompliance by any telephone company. Any such penalty shall be assessed in the form of a credit to ratepayers of such electric or electric distribution company or customers of such telephone company. Any such penalty shall not be included as an operating expense of such company for purposes of ratemaking.

(f) The authority shall establish criteria for reducing compensation for any executive of an electric company or electric distribution company that is provided by such company's ratepayers if the authority determines, pursuant to subsection (e) of this section, that such company failed to comply with any standard of acceptable performance adopted pursuant to this section.

Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) On or before August 1, 2012, and annually thereafter, each electric company, electric distribution company and telephone company shall submit to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to energy and technology, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, an emergency response and infrastructure report. Such report shall detail such company's practices concerning service restoration after an emergency, as defined in section 16-32e of the general statutes, and emergency preparation during the previous year and an analysis of such company's infrastructure, facilities and equipment. Such report shall include, but not be limited to, an analysis of any such company's (A) estimates concerning potential damage and service outages prior to any emergency, (B) damage and service outage assessments after any emergency, (C) restoration management after any emergency, including access to alternate restoration resources via regional and reciprocal aid contracts, (D) planning for at-risk and vulnerable customers, (E) communication policies with state and local officials and customers, including individual customer restoration estimates and the accuracy of such estimates, (F) infrastructure, facilities and equipment, which shall include, but not be limited to, an examination of (i) whether such infrastructure, facilities and equipment are in good repair and capable of meeting operational standards, (ii) whether such company is following standard industry practice concerning operation and maintenance of such infrastructure, facilities and equipment, (iii) the age and condition of such infrastructure, facilities and equipment, (iv) whether maintenance of such infrastructure, facilities and equipment has been delayed, and (v) whether such company had access to adequate replacement equipment for such infrastructure, facilities and equipment during the course of such emergency, and (G) compliance with any emergency response standards adopted by the authority.

(b) Notwithstanding the annual reporting requirements provided in subsection (a) of this section, the authority may require any electric company, electric distribution company or telephone company to submit a supplemental emergency response and infrastructure report after any storm, emergency or event causing significant service outages.

Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective from passage) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall provide to any appropriate employee of the authority training in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Incident Management System. During any emergency, as defined in section 16-32e of the general statutes, causing significant, long-term electric service outages or disruptions, the authority shall deploy any such employee to emergency operations centers in the state to track the progress and effectiveness of service restoration efforts by each electric company and electric distribution company and to coordinate with regional and municipal officials.

Sec. 4. (NEW) (Effective from passage) Each telecommunications company, as defined in section 16-1 of the general statutes, shall maintain back-up generation equipment for any telecommunications tower or antenna owned, leased by or operated by such company to provide telecommunications services, as defined in section 16-247a of the general statutes. Such company shall maintain fuel for any such back-up generation equipment sufficient to operate such telecommunications tower or antenna for not less than seventy-two hours without electric service.

Sec. 5. Section 7-326 of the 2012 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

At such meeting, the voters may establish a district for any or all of the following purposes: To extinguish fires, to light streets, to plant and care for shade and ornamental trees, to construct and maintain roads, sidewalks, crosswalks, drains and sewers, to appoint and employ watchmen or police officers, to acquire, construct, maintain and regulate the use of recreational facilities, to plan, lay out, acquire, construct, reconstruct, repair, maintain, supervise and manage a flood or erosion control system, to plan, lay out, acquire, construct, maintain, operate and regulate the use of a community water system, to collect garbage, ashes and all other refuse matter in any portion of such district and provide for the disposal of such matter, to implement tick control measures, to install highway sound barriers, to maintain water quality in lakes that are located solely in one town in this state, to establish a zoning commission and a zoning board of appeals or a planning commission, or both, by adoption of chapter 124 or chapter 126, excluding section 8-29, or both chapters, as the case may be, which commissions or board shall be dissolved upon adoption by the town of subdivision or zoning regulations by the town planning or zoning commission, to adopt building regulations, which regulations shall be superseded upon adoption by the town of building regulations, [and] to provide ferry service, and to place underground any existing electric distribution or telecommunications lines, in consultation with any public service company or telecommunications company, as defined in section 16-1, that owns or operates such lines. Any district may contract with a town, city, borough or other district for carrying out any of the purposes for which such district was established.

Sec. 6. (NEW) (Effective from passage) Any electric company or electric distribution company, as defined in section 16-1, prior to establishing a connection to provide service to any newly constructed building, upon request of the owner of such building, shall provide cost estimates for providing service to such building using underground and above-ground electric distribution lines.

Sec. 7. (NEW) (Effective from passage) The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, in consultation with the Commissioner of Construction Services and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, shall conduct a cost-benefit analysis for any newly constructed state building prior to such facility's connection to any electric distribution system to determine whether such building should be connected to such system using underground or above-ground electric distribution lines.

Sec. 8. Section 4d-90 of the 2012 supplement to the general statutes is amended by adding subsection (f) as follows (Effective from passage):

(NEW) (f) The council shall coordinate with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to develop geospatial information systems or geographic information systems maps or information profiles in graphic and electronic form concerning the electric distribution and electric transmission systems and facilities in the state.

Sec. 9. Section 16-234 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(a) No [telegraph,] telephone company or electric [light] distribution company [or association, nor any company or association engaged in distributing electricity by wires or similar conductors or in using an electric wire or conductor for any purpose,] shall exercise any powers which may have been conferred upon it to change the location of, or to erect or place, wires, conductors, fixtures, structures or apparatus of any kind over, on or under any highway or public ground, without the consent of the adjoining proprietors, or, if such company or association is unable to obtain such consent, without the approval of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority based on public convenience and necessity, which shall be given only after a hearing upon reasonable notice to such proprietors. [; or to cut or trim any tree on or overhanging any highway or public ground, without the consent of the owner thereof, or, if such company or association is unable to obtain such consent, without the approval of the tree warden or the consent of the authority, which consent shall be given only after a hearing upon notice to such owner; but the authority may, if it finds that public convenience and necessity require, authorize the changing of the location of, or the erection or placing of, such wires, conductors, fixtures, structures or apparatus over, on or under such highway or public ground; and the tree warden in any town or the authority may, if he or it finds that public convenience and necessity require, authorize the cutting and trimming and the keeping trimmed of any brush or tree in such town on or overhanging such highway or public ground, which action shall be taken only after notice and hearing as aforesaid, which hearing shall be held within a reasonable time after the application therefor.]

(b) Any electric distribution company may cut or trim any tree or other vegetation overhanging any highway or public ground, provided (1) such company gives written notice to the owner of such tree or vegetation not later than thirty days before such company cuts or trims such tree or vegetation, and (2) such owner consents to such cutting or trimming, or fails to contest such cutting or trimming and request a public convenience and necessity review of such cutting or trimming with a hearing officer of the authority not later than twenty days after such notice was provided. If such owner requests such review, such company shall not cut or trim such tree or vegetation before such hearing officer approves such cutting or trimming pursuant to such review.

Sec. 10. (NEW) (Effective from passage) The Department of Transportation and any municipality shall notify the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority of any pending project involving the construction, alteration, reconstruction, improvement, relocation, widening or changing of the grade of a section of any state highway or any other public highway, that is greater than five miles long or located in a commercial area. The authority, upon determination that such project may provide an opportunity for any public service company, as defined in section 16-1 of the general statutes, to install, replace, upgrade or bury any water, sewer or gas line, electric wire or cable or fiber optics, shall notify such company of such project.

Sec. 11. (Effective from passage) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall initiate a docket to identify and establish procedures to increase efforts by public service companies to install, replace, upgrade or bury any water, sewer or gas line, electric wire or cable or fiber optics, including procedures to coordinate with the Department of Transportation, any municipality and any other public service company to encourage such installment, replacement, upgrading or burying during any period in which a project to construct, alter, reconstruct, improve, relocate, widen or change the grade of a section of any state highway or any other public highway is ongoing. On or before February 1, 2013, the authority shall report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, the findings of such docket, including any recommended legislation necessary to implement such findings, to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to public utilities.

Sec. 12. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) As used in this section:

(1) "Municipality" has the same meaning as provided in section 7-233b of the general statutes;

(2) "Critical facility" means any hospital, police station, fire station, water treatment plant, sewage treatment plant or correctional facility, any commercial area of a municipality or any other facility or area identified by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as critical;

(3) "Renewable distributed energy generation" means energy produced from a Class I renewable energy source, as defined in section 16-1 of the general statutes; and

(4) "Electric distribution company" and "participating municipal electric utility" have the same meanings as provided in section 16-1 of the general statutes.

(b) The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection shall establish a micro-grid grant and loan pilot program to support local renewable distributed energy generation for critical facilities. The department shall develop and issue a request for proposals from municipalities, electric distribution companies, participating municipal electric utilities, energy improvement districts and private entities seeking to develop micro-grid renewable distributed energy generation, or to repurpose existing renewable distributed energy generation for use with micro-grids, to support critical facilities. Any entity eligible to submit a proposal pursuant to this section may collaborate with any other such entity in submitting such proposal.

(c) The department shall award grants or loans under the micro-grid grant and loan pilot program to any number of recipients, provided the total amount of grants and loans awarded under the program shall not exceed five million dollars. In awarding such grants and loans, the department shall give preference to any project with an anticipated completion date on or before October 1, 2012. The department may establish any financing mechanism to leverage additional funding for the program.

(d) Not later than January first, annually, for a period of five years after receiving a grant or loan under the micro-grid grant and loan pilot program, any recipient of such grant or loan shall submit a report, in accordance with section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the department and the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to appropriations and energy and technology. Such report shall include information concerning the status of such recipient's micro-grid project.

(e) On or before January 1, 2013, the department shall file a report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, with the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to energy, identifying other funding sources necessary to expand the micro-grid grant and loan pilot program established pursuant to this section and any legislative changes necessary to access such funding.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	from passage	New section
Sec. 2	from passage	New section
Sec. 3	from passage	New section
Sec. 4	from passage	New section
Sec. 5	from passage	7-326
Sec. 6	from passage	New section
Sec. 7	from passage	New section
Sec. 8	from passage	4d-90
Sec. 9	from passage	16-234
Sec. 10	from passage	New section
Sec. 11	from passage	New section
Sec. 12	from passage	New section

Statement of Purpose:

To review the emergency response and service restoration efforts of certain public service companies and to establish emergency response and service restoration performance standards for such companies; to require back-up generators for telecommunications towers; to encourage the placement of certain utility infrastructure underground; to enable increased tree trimming; and to establish a micro-grid grant and loan pilot program.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]