HARTFORD, Connecticut — State lawmakers in both parties are expressing frustration and disappointment over state utility regulators voting not to reconsider the decision that led to a hike in electric rates.
The Public Utility Regulatory Authority voted 2-1 Friday to deny the motions to reconsider and modify the prior decision. You can find the ruling here.
In making that decision, PURA concluded: "Decreasing energy usage in the fall and winter months will deliver a tangible reprieve for ratepayers. Further, the process to reopen a proceeding, to take new evidence, to conduct hearings, to issue revised decisions, and to then litigate the probable appeals of the utilities would last well beyond the 10-month amortization period, two months of which have already passed. Consequently, the effort to modify the decisions would not provide timely, if any, relief to ratepayers. As such, the Authority declines to exercise its discretion to modify the Interim and Final Decisions and, accordingly, the reopening of the proceedings is unnecessary."
The Chair, Marissa Gillett, dissented from the majority, and her dissenting opinion is available here.
"As we’ve heard from thousands of ratepayers over the past two months, this was an increase that was not budgeted for, anticipated or understood, and many have turned to their own credit cards or other means to piece together payments," wrote Gillett in her dissent.
She added: "What I find more concerning than the utilities’ opposition to providing rate relief to customers is their seeming unwillingness to date to consistently, clearly and effectively communicate with and educate their customers. As Eversource points out in its objection to the current motion, '[W]ithout the increased consumption, the typical residential customer using 700 kWh per month taking Standard Service for electric supply would have experienced a net increase of approximately $7.58 per month due to the offset from the July 1 reduction in the Standard Service energy supply rate.' I understand this statement and how it translates into my own home’s monthly electric bill, but did the average ratepayer? Given that many of the thousands of complaints received by PURA over the past month point to this or similar statements from the utilities as a source of enduring confusion, it is clear that a major factor in the 'rate shock' is that Eversource’s and UI’s customers were not properly prepared for the July 1 rate increase."
Friday's decision comes after widespread outrage over a big jump in the Public Benefits portion of electric bills this summer. The biggest driver of the increase, about 77%, is the Millstone nuclear power purchase agreement, which generates electricity in the New England region.
"I'm pretty upset. I'm really frustrated. I feel very strongly that it's the responsibility of the regulators to, from an unbiased perspective, regulate the utility companies and represent the interest of the sort-of three-legged stool of energy policy," said Democratic state Rep. Jamie Foster, who is vice-chair of the Energy and Technology Committee. "They're supposed to make sure that the ratepayers' interests are being represented in the way they're making decisions, and that's certainly not the case. It feels like a tone-deaf response."
"[The regulators'] rationale was that this would not have made a difference when the prices go down in the fall. My point is prices have not gone down. We need immediate relief. For more than anything else, it reinforces the tone-deaf attitude of PURA," said Republican state Sen. Tony Hwang.
The Moderate Caucus, a coalition that bills itself as "fiscally responsible, pro-business Democratic legislators," has been calling on PURA to spread out the increases over 24 months, rather than the current 10 months.
"That and because July was so unseasonably warm, it really was a record-setting heat temperature, and the way the charges for the increases were designed to be volumetric in their collection, I believe utility companies over-collected and what happened was July basically looked like a balloon payment on a mortgage, and so reopening the proceeding could have allowed for consideration of the overcollection that occured and decreasing future efforts of collecting," said Foster.
Republicans are now intensifying calls for a special session to tackle possible solutions and immediate relief.
"So that we as a legislature can be the voice of the people that are so frustrated and feel as though they are not being heard by being fleeced in the pocketbook," said Hwang. "The second part that can be done immediately is the governor with the sole power of appointing additional commissioners. By statute, we should have five PURA commissioners, and he has the opportunity to appoint two new commissioners that have much more a consumer sensitivity rather than a utility background to be able to offer a more balanced decision making process."
Gov. Ned Lamont's office said he agrees rates are too high and is convening a meeting with lawmakers this week to discuss solutions and long-term energy needs.
In a letter sent earlier this week to Republican leadership, Lamont wrote: "What we are experiencing right now, and have experienced for many years, is the result of policy choices made years and even decades ago by people of both parties, many of whom are no longer even in office, and now we are facing the impacts of those decisions."
Lamont added: "The answer is not about a bureaucratic shuffling at PURA but more about supply and demand. We are at the end of the pipeline, leading to higher supply costs. This makes even valuable legislatively authorized programs that increase supply and improve grid reliability, like the Millstone contract and electric vehicle charging incentives, more difficult for ratepayers to afford."
Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney; Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff; and Norm Needleman, Senate Chair of the Energy and Technology Committee, also released a joint statement responding to the decision:
"We agree with Chair Gillette that while we seek lower electric bills, any regulatory review would take at least 10 months, and consumer bills are even now decreasing substantially due to cooler fall temperatures.
We also agree with Chair Gillette that Eversource has been deceptive, if not outright misleading, in its public statements regarding the cause and impact of public benefit charges. We urge Eversource to be more forthright with its consumers and with the Connecticut news media. We urge the same of our Republican colleagues and ask that they stop scapegoating their own neighbors who have real financial and medical hardships in paying their electric bills."
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Angelo Bavaro is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at abavaro@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook and X.
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