BURRILLVILLE — The town would reap an estimated $400,000 in additional annual tax revenue if National Grid lays 13 miles of new transmission lines, a utility official told the Town Council last night.

The proposed installation of the 345 kilovolt transmission line is part of an overall project to reinforce the connectivity of the power grid in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Plans call for installing the new line near existing power lines that enter the town to the east from North Smithfield and run westward into Connecticut. The installation would support a network of power lines that run from Millbury, Mass., to Willimantic, Conn.

National Grid hopes to begin the installation in 2010 and have the new transmission line in service in 2013, according to the project manager, David J. Beron.

Beron said the additional transmission line is necessary to help New England power companies meet peak demand, preserve reliability when some elements of the system are knocked out and relieve bottlenecks.

Electricity demand is growing in Rhode Island, he said. The state’s use of electricity at peak times was up 8 percent in 2006.

Ronald C. Gillooly, a community relations manager for National Grid, described a public outreach that has sought input from 22 households in close proximity to the path of the new transmission line.

On the map, the route for the new line makes an arc, entering town near Route 102, moving in a northwesterly direction, nearly touching the Massachusetts border and then slanting downward, exiting town miles north of Route 44.

The lines will run overhead. In the widest places the area underneath the lines will span 500 feet.

A resident, Robert Marshall, asked if there were any areas where homeowners might lose the wooded buffer that helps obscure the lines and the open area underneath from view.

Beron acknowledged a few such cases. The utility would try to remedy those situations by providing financing for landscaping, he said.

Another resident asked if the utility had considered running the new lines underground, which is often the approach taken in Europe.

Beron said that such a project can cost 7 to 10 times more money. Placing lines underground greatly complicates emergency repairs, he added.

“From our perspective, underground lines are a last resort,” he said.

In other news:

•The council voted to send a letter to the Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority and ask for the presence of a stenographer at a forum Oct. 6 at Burrillville High School.

RIPTA has said that the forum will give local residents a chance to provide input on its proposal to cut a bus service that gives local residents access to Providence. The proposed cut is a money-saving measure.

•The council also issued a retirement proclamation to U.S. Army Command Sgt. Major Theodore Hebert for his 38 years of service to the military, a stint that included deployments to Vietnam and Iraq.

Hebert thanked the council and Burrillville residents in general for being so kind to local soldiers, even in the 70s when soldiers weren’t always treated nicely in other communities.

“This town has treated its soldiers and veterans very well,” he said.

“It’s been an honor to wear this uniform and serve this state and this nation for all those years,” he said.

mreynold@projo.com