Wyoming committee pauses proposed energy transmission loan program amid questions on scope, costs and agency roles

A Wyoming legislative committee spent more than an hour on a draft bill that would establish a state-backed loan program for energy transmission projects but did not move the proposal forward.

The draft, identified as 27 LSO24, would create an "energy transmission loan program" to finance construction, renovation or expansion of electricity transmission infrastructure in Wyoming. LSO staff explained the draft sets out definitions, an application and review process and placeholder financing figures: an aggregate program cap of $200 million and an initial single-loan cap of $50 million. The draft also names the Office of State Lands and Investments (OSLI) as the placeholder administrator and requires the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) to adopt rules to implement the program.

LSO staff noted the bill text intentionally uses provisional numbers and terms as starting points for committee decisions. "These are figures that are simply placeholders and would be up to the committee to determine what those numbers should be," one staff presenter said.

Rob Kger, executive director of the Wyoming Energy Authority, told the committee the state already has several tools that can be used for transmission projects, including bonding authority of up to $3 billion and the newly created "energy dominance" fund. He cautioned that high-voltage lines are costly: "Depending on the geography, per-mile costs can range from $1.5 million to $6.5 million," Kger said, and warned that typical project budgets can quickly exceed the $50 million cap in the draft.

Committee members probed how the loans would interact with public-service commission rate cases, whether loans would be offered only to regulated utilities or to any entity performing utility-like functions, and whether there is demonstrable demand for state loans. Kger and staff repeatedly emphasized that many specificsfrom eligible applicants to funding sources and interest termswere left for the committee to decide.

The draft requires that loans be secured by the energy infrastructure funded by the loan and sets repayment terms, including a maximum repayment period of 30 years. Interest must be charged at a rate no lower than the return earned on the Legislative Stabilization Reserve (LSR) or 3 percent, whichever is higher. Under one provision the OSLI director, with governor approval, could borrow up to $200 million from the LSR to seed the program, a mechanism LSO staff presented as an option rather than a commitment.

At the end of the discussion, with no public commenters signed up to speak on the bill, no member moved the measure for formal action. The chair declared the draft would not advance at this meeting. Committee staff later confirmed the committee took no action on 27 LSO24.

What happens next: committee members asked staff to keep the draft available as a vehicle for future consideration and to clarify outstanding questions about administration, interaction with existing authority (bonding, energy dominance fund) and likely demand from utilities.

Acknowledgments: Reporting here is based on committee presentations and on-record exchanges with LSO staff and Rob Kger, Executive Director of the Wyoming Energy Authority. The committee's transcript shows staff repeatedly described numeric limits in the draft as placeholders for legislative decision-making.