Written on: March 1, 2013 by ICM
Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy released the final version of his Comprehensive Energy Strategy earlier this week following months of public comment and debate over its hallmark feature: to increase availability of natural gas, according to articles published by The Hartford Courant.
The Plan aims to widely expand the natural gas infrastructure, making it an option for heating at least half of Connecticut residences and 75 percent of businesses. From draft to final version, the broad strokes of the Strategy remain intact according to an executive summary of the plan view by The Hartford Courant and reported in two separate stories in as many days.
Additions to the original plan include: a $500 tax credit to help residents with conversions, a call to expand natural gas pipeline capacity, a further look at large-scale hydropower, and a push to develop a cyber security strategy for Connecticut’s electric grid, says the Courant.
The plan, said the Governor, “will ensure that all parties involved in energy in the state are pulling together in the same direction toward a cheaper, cleaner, more reliable energy future”, according to the Courant article.
Heating oil dealers in the state criticized the plan’s reliance on price predictions that plot future energy prices for decades; predictions that have already proven to be grossly inaccurate only a few months after publication of the draft plan.
Many of the plan’s proposals will be forwarded to either the state legislature or the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority for consideration. Others can be implemented right away without approvals, said Dennis Schain, a spokesman for the state’ energy department, and reported by the Courant.
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