Connecticut lawmakers are calling for a multi-state hearing on utility Eversource after what they describe as “exorbitant and punitive” rate hikes are due to take effect next year.
In a letter sent Friday to the chairman of the state’s public utility regulator, Senate Democrats called on PURA to hold a meeting in cooperation with regulators in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
“This hearing should cover the process by which Eversource is sourcing energy, how it is forecasting prices for natural gas and other fuel sources, and whether it is providing its ratepayers with adequate protections from the excessive increases we have just proposed,” the letter said Signed by 20 Senate Democrats, including Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk.
A spokesman for PURA said Friday morning that Chairwoman Marissa Gillett “shares the senators’ goals to increase accountability and transparency and looks forward to making all reasonable efforts to address this unsustainable situation.”
“Chair Gillett intends to follow up on the senators’ call for multi-state cooperation and will update leaders and the public on her efforts in this regard,” the spokesman said.
Last week, Eversource announced that power generation tariffs would double from the current 12.1 cents per kilowatt hour to 24.2 cents per kilowatt hour from January 1, pending regulatory approval, causing utility bills for the average consumer by $85 per month. United Illuminating announced a similar increase, from 10.62 cents per kilowatt hour to 21.94, causing the average bill to rise to $79 per month.
With the increases, generation rates will be nearly double what they have been at any point in the last 10 years.
While utilities said the hikes were an inevitable result of a rise in natural gas costs, Democratic senators slammed Eversource for “extreme profiteering and lack of foresight.” They found that Eversource’s rates are higher than at least one competitor, Avangrid, as well as municipal utilities.
“How can Eversource, with its economies of scale, not compete with small municipal utilities?” They write. “The obvious answer to that question is simple: greed.”
Currently, legislators and regulators have little power to block Eversource and UI’s rate increases, although calls for further monitoring have grown louder in recent years.
In their letter, lawmakers wrote that Eversource is “making record profits, delivering those record profits to investors at the expense of interest payers, and making its executives fabulously wealthy,” and called for a system that ties profits more tightly to performance.
“Shareholders, executives and regulators must come together to relieve taxpayers and restore confidence in Eversource’s management,” they said.