Previous Story
Bill requiring public land leases to connect to CUC now law
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres has signed into law a Senate bill to require all public land leases to include a condition that lessees must connect to and use the local power grid.
But Torres also signals his desire for follow-up legislation to clarify the law.
“While this bill has become Public Law 19-59, I respectfully request that clarification be added in form of an amendment to this Public Law, namely, to exempt small parcels of public land in remote areas of the Commonwealth from the mandate to connect to the [Commonwealth Utility Corp.] power grid,” Torres wrote in his Aug. 2, 2016, letter to the Legislature.
Per the new law, the condition to connect to CUC grid will be subject to the utility’s evaluation of the development’s power requirements and if existing power generation capacity is capable to provide demand.
If necessary, the lessee may be required to provide and pay for improvements and upgrades to the power grid to meet additional power load of the development, according to the new law.
If the CUC determines that existing power capacity is incapable of provided the estimated power needs, the lessee may be exempted from the condition to use the power grid until the CUC’s generation capacity is capable to accommodate the development’s power requirements.
