HARTFORD, Conn. — Republican lawmakers unveiled Friday proposals they say will bring customers relief on their electric bills. This comes after Eversource and United Illuminating (UI) requested double-digit rate hikes for customers.
“Every single month, it is the highest bill they get in their home,” said Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, speaking about his constituents.
Connecticut residents are fed up with high energy costs, according to Harding and Republican lawmakers in the Senate and House.
“Connecticut’s electricity rates are too damn high.,” said state Sen. Ryan Fazio, ranking member on the Energy and Technology Committee. “It’s not acceptable that we have the second-highest electricity costs in the entire continental U.S.”
Connecticut does have some of the most expensive energy bills in the country, at about 38% higher than the national average.
Utility companies say lots of factors are to blame, like geography and market costs for energy going up, but they also point to state policies, which Republicans want to change.
In a statement, UI spokesperson Sarah Wall Fliotsos wrote, “The increases UI forecasted last week in the RAM (Rate Adjustment Mechanism) represent pass-through costs driven by public policy decisions made by the General Assembly, DEEP, and PURA and are out of UI’s control. The primary drivers of the increase are the contracts for the Millstone and Seabrook nuclear power plants, which were anomalously low in 2023 due to global energy market conditions, and the increase in costs for low-income assistance programs. Together, these items comprise 87 percent of the increase, which UI currently forecasts will be approximately $26 monthly for the average residential customer. UI’s new electric bill redesign, which began in the February billing cycle, will delineate these charges under the ‘Public Benefits’ section. We encourage our customers impacted by these increases to provide feedback to the legislators who pushed and advocated for these increased costs. As always, UI stands ready to work collaboratively with the General Assembly and the Lamont Administration to find solutions that address the true drivers of high costs for our customers, and at the same time unlock the investments in grid modernization and resiliency needed to deliver a more affordable clean energy future.”
Some of the Republican lawmakers’ ideas include studying ways to increase natural gas supply in New England, and possibly moving public policy charges off ratepayer bills and into the state budget.
They also want to separate the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) — which approves or denies companies’ rate hike requests — from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).
“I don't know how you can have a body that's supposed to be looking out for consumer protection, consumer affordability and you have the commissioner, who's their boss, that is promoting policies that are gonna simply drive costs up,” Harding said.
Republicans also proposed using some of the state’s unspent, pandemic-era federal money to pay down the $190 million bill energy companies say racked up from customers not paying during the state’s shut-off moratorium.
“Let's take those ARPA funds and pay that down, because all these people who were paying their bills this entire time should not be covering that for the rest of the state,” said state Rep. Bill Buckbee, the other ranking member of the Energy and Technology Committee.
“This governor carried this moratorium on for far too long and that four-year impact is what is driving everyone's electric bills and blaming our utility companies isn't fair,” House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora added.
Democrats on the Energy Committee said companies should have built ways into their budgets to cover the bills of customers who couldn’t pay during the pandemic.
When it comes to changing the structure of PURA, committee co-chair state Sen. Norm Needleman said, “What I hear from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is, ‘Give them a blank check, just succumb, don't have an adversarial relationship between the regulator and the utilities.’ Quite frankly, it's supposed to be adversarial. You should hold the utilities accountable. That’s their job.”
RELATED: Eversource and United Illuminating are proposing rate increases: What does it mean for your budget?
Emma Wulfhorst is a political reporter for FOX61 News. She can be reached at ewulfhorst@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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