Energy & Technology Committee, Bipartisan Legislative Leaders Ask PURA to Suspend Eversource Rate Increases
July 29, 2020HARTFORD – Today a bipartisan group of lawmakers is asking the State Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to step in and provide people with relief from skyrocketing electric bills.
The co-chairs and ranking members of the General Assembly’s Energy & Technology Committee, joined by legislative leaders from all four caucuses, wrote to PURA requesting the agency suspend the increase to the components of the Eversource delivery rate that increased on July 1, including the transmission charge (TAC), the electric System Improvements (ESI) tracker charge, and the non-bypassable federally mandated congestion charge (NBFMCC).
Energy & Technology Committee Co-Chairs Representative David Arconti (D-Danbury) and Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex), along with Ranking Members Senator Paul Formica (R-East Lyme) and Representative Charles Ferraro (R-West Haven) wrote to PURA in a letter cosigned by Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, House Republican Leader Themis Klarides and Representative Vincent Candelora.
“It has come to our attention that several charges on the Eversource bills, recovered through the delivery portion of a customer’s bill, have increased effective July 1, 2020. We are respectfully requesting that the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) suspend the increase,” the lawmakers wrote.
“The public health emergency, coupled with the extreme heat experienced in Connecticut this summer, has likely affected the 2020 electricity consumption forecasts for both of our state’s electric utilities. Because so many of the bill components are linked to a customer’s energy usage, it is important that PURA thoroughly vet both utilities’ proposed rate increases to ensure that neither utility is over-recovering.
“By suspending the rate increases and returning to the rates that were in effect with the June billing cycle, it will allow PURA to conduct a thorough review of Eversource’s request and to explore alternative cost recovery options, if that is more appropriate.”