Utility customers are turning frustration into action. On Thursday, advocates hand-delivered 68,000 signatures to Governor Ned Lamont’s office.
“The public benefits need to be removed from our energy bill,” advocate Scott Pearson said. “I know people are very upset about this, and this is not going to go away.”
Customer Donnetta Campbell was among the group. She brought copies of her Eversource bills in hand.
In June, Campbell was paying $87 in public benefits; by August, that amount jumped to $816.
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“My bill was around $1,200 a month, [then] my bill was $3,200, I just about fell off my chair,” Donnetta Campbell, of Middlebury, said. “It is making me look at my kids who are down in Raleigh, should I relocate to Raleigh sooner than I planned?"
A solution, however, is not so simple. Sen. Jeff Gordon (R-Woodstock) said he would like legislatures to meet in a special session to go over proposals.
“We can actually move these taxes off of people’s bills, we have money already in the budget we can reconfigure, we have ARPA money that has been unspent that we can use,” Gordon said.
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Lamont said he is doing everything possible to lower the price of energy. He said he is open to discussion, but is worried about the cost being passed over to taxpayers.
“When you are saying taking from the budget, that means I want taxpayers to pay, don’t let people use I want the general fund to pay, that means taxpayers. I don't think I want taxpayers to pay for electricity. I want to increase the supply of electricity, that is how we bring down rates,” Lamont said.
A spokesperson for United Illuminating said in a statement:
“The Public Benefits Charge pays for the costs of policymakers’ legislative and regulatory initiatives and is a pass-through cost for UI that we don’t control or profit from. We understand these costs have been difficult for our customers, particularly over the summer due to increased usage in Connecticut’s hottest month on record. To mitigate rate shock like this going forward, we urge PURA to return to forward-looking forecasts that stabilized electric bills for decades, and we ask that legislators consider these bill impacts for the programs they may implement during future legislative sessions.”
