Section 69J1/2. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the department may charge a fee of seventy-five thousand dollars for each application to construct a facility that generates electricity. In the event that the application to construct a facility that generates electricity is accompanied by an application to construct one additional facility that does not generate electricity, said department may charge a fee of one hundred thousand dollars for the combined application. In the event that an application to construct a facility that generates electricity is accompanied by applications to construct two additional facilities that do not generate electricity, said department may charge a fee of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for the combined application. In the event that an application to construct a facility that does not generate electricity is filed separately, said department may charge a fee of seventy-five thousand dollars for each such application; provided, however, that, should said department deem it warranted, it may charge a lower fee, not to be less than twenty-five thousand dollars, for applications to construct facilities that do not generate electricity and that are below a size to be determined by the department. Said fees shall be payable upon issuance of the notice of adjudication and public hearing. Said fees shall apply to all applications filed on or after August fifteenth, nineteen hundred and eighty-nine.

None of the fees described above shall be required of applicants that are utility companies subject to the jurisdiction of the said department that are assessed annually for the expenses of said department.

Said department may retain said fees for the purpose of reviewing applications to construct facilities. Any remaining balances of said fees at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund, but instead shall be available to said department during the following fiscal year for the purposes provided herein.

The fees collected pursuant to this section shall be used to ensure that an appropriate number of staff members and other resources are dedicated to the review of applications to construct facilities. Said department shall endeavor to complete the review of applications filed by applicants that are not utility companies in seven months from the date of the last public informational hearing, and shall endeavor to complete the review of applications filed by utility companies in twelve months from the date of the last public informational hearing; provided, however, that it may not be possible to achieve these target periods in the case of applications that raise unusual issues or circumstances. Said department shall issue an annual report setting forth the following: the number of facility applications filed, decided and pending; the average duration of review; and the average staffing levels.

Nothing contained in this section shall be interpreted as changing said department's or board's statutory mandate, or the type of transmission line facilities that may be constructed by applicants that are not utilities. Nothing contained in this section shall be interpreted as changing the department's or board's regulations or body of precedent, or interpreted as changing the rights of intervenors before the department or board.