Sen. Linares on News 8 – “We have heard from hundreds of people in my district, very concerned about these rate increases.”

WTNH Article

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH)– It’s now official, state regulators have approved those electric rate hikes that will start showing up on your bill next month. It’s not as much as C.L.&P. was asking for, but it’s still going to hurt.

All that money you’re saving at the gas pumps is going to go right toward paying your electric bill. Wednesday’s final decision means that if you let C.L.&P. pick your generation supplier, the so-called standard offer, the average homeowner will see an increase of about $25 per month when you combine the increase in the generation charge and the distribution charge.

Previously approved hikes for U.I. show that your increase for both charges will be about $32 a month.

“We have heard from hundreds of people in my district, very concerned about these rate increases, and it’s really disappointing to find out that people are going to struggle paying for their electric bill,” said State Senator Art Linares, R-Westbrook.

There’s nothing you can do about the distribution charge increase on your bill. That’s the charge the power companies charge to maintain the wires and utility poles. You can sometimes get a cheaper rate on the generation charge by selecting one of the competing companies that supply the power. But, all the power suppliers are going up right now because about half of the electric power generating stations are fueled by natural gas and right now that cost is going up here in the Northeast because of inadequate gas lines coming into this part of the country.