Southbury’s Heritage Village Residents Can Benefit from New Law, Sen. Kane Says

June 6, 2011

State Senator Rob Kane (R- Watertown) today celebrated the unanimous passage in the senate of an omnibus energy bill which provides a path toward relief for electric heat users who live in Southbury’s Heritage Village condominiums.

This law will specifically target those who heat their homes with electricity by allowing gas or heating oil companies to finance the conversion to gas heat or home heating oil.

“This is very good news for Heritage Village residents and it marks the culmination of many weeks of dogged persistence to get this legislative language passed,” Kane said. “We have been telling everyone who would listen that the current system is unfair to seniors in Southbury. When the Heritage Village condominiums were built many years ago during the oil crisis, the government encouraged builders – through financial incentives – to build with electric heat. Now that high electric rates are the norm in Connecticut, seniors at Heritage Village and others who are on fixed incomes are having a difficult time paying their bills. Electric heat has proven to be a very inefficient and costly way to keep warm. This bill moves the relief process forward.”

The bill passed the State Senate unanimously on Monday and now heads to the House.

“I look forward to this law going into effect, because it will impact a great number of my constituents,” Kane said. “This marks a step forward in the process of providing overburdened Heritage Village residents with some measure of relief.”

Senator Kane thanked State Rep. Arthur O’Neill for his work on the bill’s language and said he is optimistic the bill will pass the House this week.