CT electricity bill increases lead to tensions in lawmakers over the solution

Hours after the state’s public utility regulator approved another electricity rate hike on Wednesday, a group of moderate Democrats in the House of Representatives called for a public hearing on the issue.

House members also asked PURA to spread the financial impact of a 2017 law that gave the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in Waterford a guaranteed payment rate over about two years instead of 10 months. That shorter period resulted in staggering July bills for customers of Eversource Energy, the Massachusetts-based company that supplies most of the state’s electricity.

“No one is immune from the drastic increases in our bills and the public outcry is enough to make all lawmakers listen and present solutions,” the group of 24 lawmakers said. “PURA’s recent decision to allow another rate increase to go into effect on September 1 is another sign of a broken system that does not represent the people.”

On Wednesday, PURA approved another $80 million for Eversource and United Illuminating to build a network to charge the state’s electric vehicles. Hours later, Republicans in the General Assembly’s minority again called for a special session on the issue, warning that Democrats, with majorities of 98-53 in the House and 24-12 in the Senate, had set the stage for higher rates.

Republican House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora said Thursday he wished moderate Democrats had joined forces with Republicans in February when they proposed providing $190 million in relief to electric customers. “We don’t need a public hearing on why people can’t pay their electric bills,” he said. Stretching out customers’ payments beyond the current 10 months is “just postponing the problem and doesn’t solve the problem.”

Republicans have called for the cost of so-called public services to be separated from Eversource’s consumer bills. About 23 percent of that goes to unpaid electric bills during the moratorium on power shutoffs for nonpayment due to the COVID pandemic, while 77 percent is for the 2017 bill designed to preserve the Waterford-based Millstone plant and its 1,000 local jobs.

House Speaker Matt Ritter, Democrat of Hartford, said Thursday he has called a meeting of House Democrats to discuss the issues involved. “I’m very grateful to the Moderate Caucus for bringing their perspective,” Ritter said. “We have a meeting Sunday night and we’ll lay out different options and scenarios for everyone to discuss.”

House Representative Jonathan Steinberg (D-Westport), co-chair of the House Energy and Technology Committee, said Thursday morning that a public hearing would accomplish little other than allow consumers to vent their frustration over higher rates during the unusually hot early summer months.

Steinberg said PURA would consider spreading the additional fees over 22 months. He warned that a longer period would actually mean customers would have to pay more money than 10 months. Although Steinberg said he agreed with the moderate faction on some points, he disagreed with them on this one. He also said Republicans were supporting the fossil fuel industry by proposing to absorb the cost of public services in the state budget.

“I don’t think a public hearing would appease anyone,” Steinberg said. “The cavalry won’t arrive in time. There’s nothing that’s going to make people feel better in the long run. It’s the greed of the utilities based on bad investments in offshore wind. My electricity consumption has doubled. Can anyone say the word climate change?”

Steinberg said Republicans have wanted for years to limit state efforts to promote clean energy sources such as renewable wind, hydro and solar power. The 2017 law would have placed carbon-free nuclear power, which generates radioactive waste stored in spent fuel pools, in the renewable energy category. “Across the country, people are cheering Connecticut for withstanding this onslaught,” Steinberg said. “There is a conflict between the interests of corporate shareholders and electricity ratepayers. We need to invest in the electric grid.”

Theresa Govert, chief of staff to PURA Chair Marissa Gillett, said Thursday there are currently two proposals to reopen and reconsider the rates: one from Steinberg and his committee chair, Sen. Norm Needleman, Democrat of Essex, and one from state consumer adviser Claire Coleman. Both were submitted to PURA on Wednesday. “Our procedures give the parties seven days to submit comments before the matter is taken up,” Govert said. “Because these are open motions, as a quasi-judicial agency, we cannot comment.”

Democratic Rep. Kerry Wood of Rocky Hill, co-chair of the House Housing and Insurance Committee, said Thursday that the group, which includes suburban and urban Democrats and meets weekly, has also asked PURA to reopen electricity rates.

Analysts at RTO Insider, a newsletter covering the energy industry, said tensions with utilities stem from Connecticut’s efforts to implement performance-based rates. Eversource, which got into a dispute with PURA in May over projected returns on capital, said it would pull $500 million in planned capital expenditures over the next five years.

“Gillett has argued that the agency is simply holding utilities to existing standards, albeit more stringent than in the past,” the newsletter said last month. The success of Connecticut’s transition to performance-based regulation, which penalizes utilities for prolonged power outages after storms, could have significant implications for the state’s transition to clean energy, the cost and reliability of its electricity supply, and the spread of regulation across the region, they wrote.

Julia Bergman, spokeswoman for Gov. Ned Lamont, said Thursday that it is within the power of the General Assembly to schedule public hearings, noting that the governor has said he would support lawmakers calling a special session of the legislature if they so wished.

“Governor Lamont agrees that Connecticut is paying too much for electricity and has said he is open to practical solutions to reduce costs,” Bergman said in a statement. “This is not a partisan issue, as we all agree we need a solution to reduce energy costs.”