Municipal Utilities.

Municipalities have the authority to acquire, build, operate, and regulate utility systems to provide services like gas, electricity, and water and charge property owners a reasonable connection charge to connect their property to the applicable utility services.

Waiver of Utility Connection Charges.

Municipalities may establish, by ordinance, a program to waive or delay utility connection charges for certain individuals and properties.  The individuals, groups, and entities eligible for waivers or delays of utility connection charges under a program created by a municipality includes:

• low-income individuals and groups;
• nonprofit organizations;
• public development authorities;
• housing authorities; and
• local agencies that provide emergency shelter, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, or affordable housing.

Connection charges are one-time fees charged by a utility to cover the cost of connecting a property to its service infrastructure, including expenses for labor, materials, and administrative processing.  The waived connection charges must be funded through general funds, grants, or other designated revenue sources.  If the property no longer qualifies under the program's criteria, the waived charges must be repaid to continue utility service.

Industrial Waste Coordination and Industrial Symbiosis Grant Programs.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) administers an Industrial Waste Coordination Program to provide expertise, technical assistance, and best practices to support local industrial symbiosis projects.  Commerce also administers a Competitive Industrial Symbiosis Grant Program (Grant Program).  Eligible uses of Grant Program funds include industrial symbiosis projects, research on product development using a specific waste flow, and feasibility studies for biobased resources, business models, and regional partnerships.

Since the Grant Program began in 2021, recipient grant projects have included biomass waste in concrete, agricultural reuse of byproducts, and energy recovery.

Municipal utilities are authorized to create programs by ordinance for a waiver of utility connection charges for properties owned or developed by organizations that utilize the property for industrial symbiosis.

"Industrial symbiosis" is defined as a collaboration among businesses or organizations to exchange materials, energy, water, and byproducts to optimize resource use and enhance environmental, economic, and social outcomes for projects that demonstrate measurable reductions in resource consumption or greenhouse gas emissions while supporting sustainable development and long-term community benefits.