CT, MA Republicans Urge Transparency on Two-State Wind Power

CT Inside Investigator

Yesterday, Connecticut’s Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding (R-Brookfield) released a statement in tandem with Massachusetts Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) demanding transparency regarding the states’ recent interest in wind power.

“The people of Massachusetts and Connecticut deserve detailed answers on how much these agreements are going to cost,” said Harding. “What’s the price tag? What’s the impact on our already stretched family budgets? The people of our respective states deserve to know as soon as possible and certainly before any contracts are signed. We need transparency, not secrecy.”

The statement comes about a month and a half after it was discovered that Connecticut would not join Massachusetts and Rhode Island in seeking bids on wind power, a full year after the three states announced their intent to solicit a tri-state wind power agreement.

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“Let’s see what the price looks like going forward and maybe it’s this deal or the next deal,” said Gov. Lamont, when asked about his intentions regarding the deal last month on a radio show.

Since then, Lamont and Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey have reportedly been in talks regarding the possibility of Massachusetts purchasing some renewable energy from Millstone Power Plant in return for Connecticut purchasing its own 400-megawatt share of the Vineyard Wind 2 wind project, the feasibility of which is reliant on Connecticut’s opting into the deal. As of last week, Massachusetts’s State Senate passed a bill that included provisions allowing the state to procure nuclear power from neighboring states, a significant indicator that the deal may be moving forward.

“There’s an opportunity for Massachusetts to purchase energy from Millstone,” said Healey to reporters after a bill-signing in September. “There’s a nice synergy there.”

Millstone has represented a thorn in the side of Connecticut ratepayers, as a 2017 deal passed between the state and the nuclear plant stipulates that Connecticut derive 50% of its electric power from it, at a rate 2.5 times higher than market price, until 2029. If Massachusetts were to purchase some of Millstone’s power, it could help to lower the plant’s rates, thus lessening the burden on Connecticut ratepayers to make soliciting wind power a more politically feasible move for Lamont.

Connecticut lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have spent the past several months pointing fingers at one another over the state’s unprecedentedly high utility rates, with Democrats blaming Republicans for leading the charge on the 2017 deal that aimed to keep Millstone open. On the other hand, Republicans have insisted that the public utility portion of ratepayers’ bills, the portion of residents’ bills that reimburses state utility providers for several Democrat-led initiatives such as its COVID-utility moratorium and numerous renewable and regulatory initiatives, is the primary culprit for heightened rates.

Alongside calls for an emergency session to brainstorm ways to lower utility rates, Connecticut Republicans have also demanded the state pass legislation that would cap any future energy procurement deals from being more than 1.5 times more expensive than market rates. In their most recent statement, Harding and Tarr again asked that affordability and transparency be at the forefront of their respective leaders’ minds moving forward.

“Governor Maura Healey and Governor Ned Lamont must be straightforward with the people of Massachusetts and Connecticut,” concluded Tarr and Harding. “The time is now for a public process around this issue.”

CT, MA Republicans urge transparency on two-state wind power