Watch | ‘CT lawmakers discuss solutions to high electricity bills; one senator calls for special session’ (Eyewitness News)

Story from Eyewitness News:

The outrage and frustration over high electric bills continues. Dozens of you have emailed the I-Team, asking for help. Mary-Ellen says her bill went from $219 to $548. Carol says the public benefits portion of her bill increased $124.For Sue Corriveau-Powers of Cromwell, “it’s gone up ridiculously. I live in a condo, 1600 square feet and it went up over $150 this month. She and her husband are both retired, on a fixed income. Those are just some examples. There’s now a petition on change.org with more than 8,000 signatures asking state lawmakers to do something.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? A couple things happened all at once. One: Because of the hot summer, people are using more energy, already increasing your bill. At the same time, the state owed utility companies around $800 million dollars from past policies, and it was time to collect. This caused an increase in the public benefits portion of your bill.”This is an increase not seen in any other state regionally,” says Jamie Ratliff of Eversource Eversource says $400 million of that increase is paying off nuclear power and other special program costs, approved by legislators to help cover the cost of solar and energy assistance. $140 million will cover unpaid bills as a result of the state’s shut off moratorium. The moratorium lasted 4 years, longer than any other state in New England. Both the supply portion *and public benefit portion are related to usage, the more you use, the more you owe. “It’s important to point out here that supply and public benefits make up nearly 60% of your bill and both of these items we do not control or profit off of,” says Jamie Ratliff, spokesperson for Eversource. “People are really hurting,” says State Representative Jonathan Steinberg of Westport. He co-chairs the legislature’s Energy & Technology Committee. He says 77% of the public benefit increase comes from the Millstone Nuclear contract, a bi-partisan agreement signed in 2017. Dominion Energy had threatened to close the plant. The state chose to save it. “When we decided to sign a contract with Millstone to keep them going, that was actually led by a Republican Senator and it was a bipartisan vote,” says Representative Steinberg. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. The problem is, soon thereafter the price of natural gas went down again and we actually were paying more for nuclear energy and then we owed the utilities the difference in that.”

CAN WE USE STATE FUNDS?

We asked Representative Steinberg if COVID relief funds, or the surplus could be used to pay off that money. “No, we can’t because there is an appropriate separation between electric rates and the general budget,” says Steinberg. “Ratepayers primarily pay for the energy they use. Most of the charge is usage related. Spreading it, creating relief otherwise, I suppose it could be done but it’s not a great precedent.”

SENATOR WANTS SPECIAL SESSION CALLED: 

State Senator Jeffrey Gordon, who represents the 35th district, disagrees. “We could actually use that to help either pay for this or defray the cost. Some people have even advocated, do we even need to use any surplus funds we have,” says Senator Gordon. 

But most of the ARPA money has already been assigned. 

Gordon says the legislature should call a special session immediately to discuss options. “It is. But that doesn’t mean we can’t reconfigure it. We need to prioritize what’s the issue here,” says Senator Gordon. “Whenever the state mandates programs, even if they have merits, don’t hide them as taxes and fees on an electricity bill. Put them in the state budget.” 

The increase in the public benefits portion of your bill will last for the next ten months.

We were able to find out that PURA’s chairman, Marissa Gillett, wanted to spread the costs over 22 months but was outvoted. The Governor’s answer? “The high electric prices are related to COVID, we could have done that. I had to work with the legislature, they had some other priorities for the COVID money.”

The Governor says, what the Legislature really needs to do, is find out how to bring down the price of electricity.