SEYMOUR -–Town officials are considering a $7.25 million deal that would use two fuel cells to power four schools and 12 municipal buildings. Officials said the move would ultimately eradicate electric bills at those facilities.

The Board of Selectpersons at its July 8 meeting voted to authorize First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis to enter into a 20-year contract with Johnson Controls, pending approval by town counsel.

The proposal is to install two, 325-kilowatt fuel cells on two town-owned properties: officials identified the Seymour Community Center and Bungay School as two locations, but said other, unnamed sites are being considered.

The fuel cells would be similar in size to a 20-yard dumpster, or about 8 feet high by 10 feet wide by 20 feet long, according to Aaron Alibrio, a representative with Johnson Controls.

The $7.25 million cost to build the fuel cell would be borrowed and would be paid off after 12 years, according to Kurt Miller, the town’s chief administrative officer.

Miller said once the Seymour project is paid off, the town would no longer incur electricity costs for its four schools and 12 municipal buildings for the remaining years of the agreement.

He said the town currently budgets about $270,000 annually for utilities, while the Seymour Board of Education budgets about $675,000 a year.

The town would control the fuel cells through a lease purchase agreement, commonly known as rent to own.

Drugonis said the deal isn’t final yet.

“The Board of Selectpersons gave me authorization to move forward with this, pending town counsel signing off on it,” Drugonis said. “Nothing is finalized yet. We are committing to a study period, where in part, Johnson Controls will determine the best locations for the fuel cells and do their due diligence.”

Utility costs are expensive and hard to predict for town governments. The deal Seymour is considering would allow for less volatility when it comes to electricity, Drugonis said.

“It will help with long-term budgeting and allow us to use money that would have gone to increases in electricity rates to be used for other things and to help keep taxes lower,” she said.

Fuel cells are all the rage in Valley governments.

Derby allowed two – one on private property off Roosevelt Drive (the second largest fuel cell in the state), and another, smaller facility on Derby-owned land on Coon Hollow Road..

Unlike the Seymour proposal, the electricity generated on public land on Coon Hollow Road does not directly power city-based facilities. The energy goes into the electrical grid.

The Ansonia Board of Aldermen approved a similar, $37 million lease-purchase agreement with Johnson Controls last year. The nine Ansonia fuel cells, planned to produce 440 kilowatts each, haven’t been built yet.

Fuel cells take in hydrogen or natural gas as fuel to “cleanly and efficiently produce electricity,” according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Because they create water as a waste product instead of carbon dioxide, they have fewer air emissions than combustion-based power sources. In Connecticut, fuel cells are categorized as a Class I renewable energy source.

Johnson Controls is a multinational company that also produces fire alarms and HVAC products. Their global revenue last year was $27.4 billion, according to a financial report.