At Monday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting (April 20), the three members of the board who were present all voted to approve the proposed service agreement between Eversource and Wilton to bring a natural gas line up Wolfpit Rd. to Miller-Driscoll School. This proposed installment would be the second phase of the natural gas conversion project that first selectman Bill Brennan has championed in his final term in office.
Brennan explained how this phase of the gas line installation would cost the town $300,000–the first $200,000 would be funded as a capital expenditure in a way that he said would not impact the overall project budget. The remaining $100,000 would made with payments spread over four years. There was also discussion with an Eversource executive about why the town would need to contribute financially toward this phase of the project when last year’s gas line project didn’t cost the town anything.
The gas line would run from Horseshoe Rd.–connecting to the line that was installed last fall–up to Miller-Driscoll school. At Monday night’s meeting, Brennan outlined why there was urgency to get the project approved, and said that Eversource was eyeing a June 15 start.
“The opportunity to do the construction this summer between June 15 and August 15 is perfect, due to the reduced community traffic. The gas line will also be in place when school renovations take place in 2016,” he explained, calling the timing ‘perfect’ with the school year coming to a close, many residents on summer vacation out of town, and reduced traffic. He added that given those conditions, it’s likely the project can be completed in 40-50 days, even though town officials have allowed for 60 days.
One other factor was working in favor of a June 15 start: Brennan explained that the CT DOT had planned to repave Wolfpit Rd., but when Eversource indicated the likelihood for this gas installation project, the state delayed repaving it until after the project would be completed. He explained that any state repaving will save both the town and Eversource money on the project, as Eversource will not have to do the final repaving step once installation is complete.
“We have both benefitted from that,” Brennan said.
Not only is there a tight window on getting the service agreement approved because of road construction concerns, Brennan said it impacts the Miller-Driscoll renovation project.
“More importantly, Tai Soo Kim needs to being designing the facility and the space for gas versus oil,” he said.
Documents show that gas would start being supplied to Miller-Driscoll in 2017.
Project Finances
On April 13, Brennan sent a copy of the Wolfpit Rd. gas line proposal to other town officials, including Board of Education chair Bruce Likly; Wilton CFO Sandy Dennies; town counsel Ken Bernhard; and Board of Finance chair Warren Serenbetz and vice-chair Lynne Vanderslice; as well as the other selectmen.
According to Brennan, the documents he sent (and released to the media) summarized the project and emphasized the potential opportunity for significant cost savings versus oil fuel, due to what he said were higher efficiency gas boilers and the projected lower cost natural gas fuel.
“Even with the $300,000 negotiated contribution with Eversource, the potential economic savings for the town are substantial,” Brennan told the selectmen. “The $200,000 will be capitalized in the project expense, as oil fuel was the fuel system budgeted in the capital project appropriations. Converting to natural gas saves $199,000 as calculated by Turner Construction. This is because we do not require the costly installation of above-ground oil tank facilities if we go to gas.”
He added that the town’s bond counsel approved the funding plan.
He added that the remaining $100,000 will be paid for out of the Bd. of Ed.’s operating expenses–$25,000 per year over four years. But, he explained, that expenditure would be offset by the estimated annual savings each year of using gas fuel versus oil.
“So there’s significant savings in excess of $215,000 just on those first four years of use. Once we’re past that, the savings go up and there are no more contribution payments,” Brennan said.
Why Does the Town Have to Pay?
Brennan asked Chris Luca, the Eversource executive who worked with Wilton on putting the project together, to explain why the town is now being asked to pay for the pipeline installation, when Wilton didn’t have to make contributions last year when 3.5 miles of gas pipeline was laid down in Wilton Center.
Luca said it comes down to the economics, “We’ve got to be able to say that we’re able to acquire a certain load. When you look at the first phase, there’s a much larger anchor load, along with all the customers along the route. When you’re looking at this, you’re looking at one customer [Miller-Driscoll]. For us the price per foot, which is the way we look at it, of acquired load doesn’t necessarily cover the capital costs that we have. That’s why you have a contribution with this project where you didn’t with the first,” Luca explained.
He added that the project has been reviewed by PURA, the regulatory body for the utility industry. “Every customer we work with goes through the same model. It’s an open book for anyone to see. PURA–they dive into these things very intently, so we have to make sure we structure it the same way for everyone.”
When the project was originally conceived, however, the town would have shared the financial burden with the School Sisters of Notre Dame, which is located just west of Miller-Driscoll, across Belden Hill Rd. Because the Sisters have opted not to convert to gas, the utility will see a lower gas load, and thus Wilton must now take on the $300,000 cost single-handedly.
Brennan: Look to Potential Savings from Gas
Brennan said that in the town’s analysis of potential savings from converting to gas fuel, they ran several models, and relied on conservative estimates to make the recommendation–estimates which were still encouraging, nonetheless.
“In preparing the analysis the most conservative estimate was used. Using these numbers a fuel savings of $43,000 per year, or $215,000 over just the first four years were estimated; it could be substantially more savings than that, depending on fuel prices in comparison of oil versus gas,” he said.
Brennan said Eversource provided an estimate of $68,000 yearly savings based on square footage of the facility; the Energy Commission had even higher numbers.
“We elected to use the most conservative estimate that we got. They’re managing expectations. But the potential savings is even greater,” he said, adding. “I do not make up these numbers. But we have an Energy Commission and we have very talented people who do this. That was in the data that we sent to all the board persons.”
Collecting Support
According to Brennan, the M-D Building Committee co-chairs representing the building committee and design team, also sent a letter of support to the BoS for this conversion project, and highlighted the Energy Commissions savings analysis of gas versus oil. Both Karen Birck and Bruce Hampson were present at the Monday night evening in support of the gas conversion.
In addition, Brennan read a note from selectman Mike Kaelin, who was not in attendance at Monday night’s meeting, in support for the project. He also noted that Lynne Vanderslice emailed her support for the project as well.
It was pointed out that by converting to natural gas fuel, Wilton could potentially receive an energy savings grant for Miller-Driscoll, and that residents on Wolfpit Rd. would be able to independently pursue connecting to the gas lines once installation was complete. To do so they’d need to communicate directly with Eversource.