HARTFORD, Conn. — Utility customers across Connecticut will most likely end up paying more for electricity if the new rate proposals from Eversource and United Illuminating are approved.
The two companies have sent their proposals to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) that would see Eversource customers pay about $38 more a month and UI customers pay about $30 more a month.
“PURA and its stakeholders will thoroughly vet the requests,” said PURA spokesperson Taren O’Connor.
So why the increase in rates? The utility companies blame decision-makers.
“It’s almost entirely driven by public policy costs,” said Ted Novicki, the director of regulatory affairs for Avangrid, the owner of UI.
Decision makers blame the utilities.
“I just keep asking myself, how many more things do we have to cope with in a short period of time?” asked State Sen. Norm Needleman, the chair of the energy committee.
They don’t agree on much, but they do agree that when Connecticut deregulated its electric marketplace in 1998 to lower rates, it failed.
“Twenty-five years later 500% higher I would say that did not happen as intended,” said Novicki.
“The states that didn’t deregulate generally have lower rates,” added Sen. Needleman.
Wholesale changes may be needed to the structure of Connecticut’s energy marketplace.
“Freeing up the regulatory red tape. These companies are spending a lot of money fighting with the state of Connecticut and we need to reverse that trend because what’s happening is the cost of them doing business in the state of Connecticut only rises,” remarked State Rep. Vincent Candelora, the House Republican leader.
Let’s answer a few key questions.
If a customer receives their electricity through a third-party supplier, will they still pay the increase? Yes — rate changes apply to the delivery side of the bill, not the supply.
So why is the bill increasing? The utility companies said it’s because they are forced by a state contract to pay a fixed price for energy to the Millstone Nuclear Plant.
“It’s a commodity. It goes up, it goes down. It is never fixed,” Novicki said.
A contract was signed in 2017 to save the plant from shutting down.
“The decisions that were made. Everything looks different in hindsight, but it was an attempt to smooth things out,” said Needleman.
Other increases are largely due to COVID-19-era safeguards that stopped utility companies from shutting off service and collecting on customers who can’t afford to pay a cost that’s now spread across all customers.
“It’s similar to not paying off your debt. Eventually, time comes due to pay it and that’s the situation we are in right now,” Candelora said.
The utility companies said they are not profiting off the rate increase and are simply forced to administer programs that were put in place by lawmakers. Some lawmakers suggest that utility companies may be trying to recoup the cost of failed wind energy developments and are boosting shareholders at the ratepayers’ expense.
Jamie Ratliff, Eversource Media Relations said in a statement, "Our offshore wind business is completely separate from the distribution company. Our regulated and unregulated businesses legally must be separate, and no customer money was used in our offshore wind investment. We have filed with PURA costs that regulators have continued to push aside and delay due to their ratemaking practices which has created significant uncollected costs.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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