(a) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54, to implement the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 22a-200c

  • commissioner: means the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection or any member of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection or any local air pollution control official or agency authorized by him, acting singly or jointly, to whom he assigns any function arising under the provisions of this chapter or of any regulations adopted hereunder. See Connecticut General Statutes 22a-170
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.

(b) The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection shall auction all emissions allowances and invest the proceeds, which shall be deposited into a Regional Greenhouse Gas account established by the Comptroller as a separate, nonlapsing account within the General Fund, on behalf of electric ratepayers in energy conservation, load management, Class I renewable energy programs and programs that reduce transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions. In making such investments, the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall consider strategies that maximize cost effective reductions in greenhouse gas emission. Allowances shall be auctioned under the oversight of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection by a contractor or trustee on behalf of the electric ratepayers.

(c) The regulations adopted pursuant to subsection (a) of this section may include provisions to cover the reasonable administrative costs associated with the implementation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in Connecticut and to fund the assessment, planning and implementation of measures to reduce emissions, mitigate the impacts of climate change and to cover the reasonable administrative costs of state agencies associated with the adoption of regulations, plans and policies in accordance with § 22a-200a. Such costs shall not exceed seven and one-half per cent of the total projected allowance value. Such regulations may also set aside a portion of the allowances to support the voluntary renewable energy provisions of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative model rule and combined heat and power.

(d) Any allowances or allowance value allocated to the energy conservation load management program on behalf of electric ratepayers shall be incorporated into the planning and procurement process in sections 16a-3a and 16a-3b.

(e) Beginning with the first auction occurring on or after January 1, 2023, and notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section and subdivision (6) of subsection (f) of § 22a-174-31 of the regulations of Connecticut state agencies, auction proceeds annually calculated and allocated in accordance with subdivision (6) of subsection (f) of § 22a-174-31 of the regulations of Connecticut state agencies to the Connecticut Green Bank may be utilized by the Connecticut Green Bank, in consultation with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, for clean energy resources that do not emit greenhouse gas emissions, provided that any proceeds calculated and allocated to the Connecticut Green Bank in excess of five million two hundred thousand dollars in any fiscal year shall be diverted for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, and each fiscal year thereafter, to the Connecticut hydrogen and electric automobile purchase rebate program account established pursuant to subsection (h) of § 22a-202. For the purposes of this subsection, “clean energy” has the same meaning as provided in § 16-245n.

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