UI plans $208M line upgrade

The United Illuminating Co. announced Thursday it will spend $208 million over the next seven years to upgrade 8.1 miles of transmission line between Southport and Bridgeport along the Metro-North railroad tracks.

In addition to upgrading the transmission lines, UI will relocate the transmission lines from their current spot on the existing railroad overhead wire systems and install them on independent utility poles with new insulators, hardware and conductor adjacent to the railroad corridor.

“Right now, our engineers are working to complete planning work for this project so we can begin construction in the third quarter of 2024,” said Hallie Rimkunas, the project manager overseeing the Fairfield County project. Engineering work will be complete by the first quarter of 2024, according to officials at the Orange-based utility.

Construction is expected to get underway in the third quarter of 2024 and be completed sometime in 2029. The project needs approval from the Connecticut Siting Council, the state agency that oversees the placement of utility infrastructure.

Franklyn Reynolds, president and CEO of UI, said the project “is part of our overall investments in Connecticut to upgrade our electric infrastructure and help ensure we meet the growing needs of the customers and communities we serve.”

UI customers shouldn’t see the financial impact of the upgrade trickle down to their monthly electric bills until after the project is done.

Typically, electric utility infrastructure projects like this one are paid for initially by the company securing funding first. Once the project is completed

and in service, the utility then goes before state utility regulators to seek to recover its project costs.

The state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority then determines how much the utility can recover. Once that is determined, only then do consumers see the increase in the transmission charges portion of their monthly electric bills.

This is the third major transmission line upgrade announced by the company since March. One involves upgrades in Ansonia, Derby and Shelton, while the other is being done along the Metro-North railroad tracks between Milford and New Haven.

UI, which is a subsidiary of Orange-based Avangrid, has 3,600 miles of electric distribution lines and 138 miles of transmission lines in the 17-town within its service territory. The utility serves about 341,000 customers in the Bridgeport and New Haven areas.

Hearst Connecticut Media file photo United Illuminating’s headquarters is located on Marsh Hill Road in Orange.