Just how did this electric bill hike happen in Connecticut?

Chances are you’ve heard about a major shock from electric rates in Connecticut. 

In some cases, people have seen their bills go up by hundreds of dollars. 

It has impacted Eversource customers the most, but those with United Illuminating are feeling it too. 

NBC Connecticut Investigates looked at what is behind this rate hike. 

For starters, the portion of your bill that is going up is not going in the utility company's pocketbooks. This is known as a “pass-through” cost that covers other programs.   

These are programs that legislators voted in, and the power companies and regulators must carry out. 

However, this is the last thing folks need when they’re stressed about other rising prices. 

On July 1, the public benefits portion of Eversource bills surged to as much as a quarter or third of everyone’s bill. 

This supports energy efficiency, renewables, and power bill assistance. 

This latest hike was voted in to help pay back more than $800 million owed to Eversource to keep the Millstone nuclear plant open and pay Eversource back for a near-four-year moratorium on power shutoffs that started in the pandemic.

Eversource has said it warned the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) of a looming surge when it said PURA artificially set rates too low to cover costs.  

You can see the details of this in a rate filing Eversource made to regulators in February 2024. 

Gov. Ned Lamont admitted waiting that long may have been a mistake. 

“You could make a case we should’ve done that sooner,” the governor said. 

Elected leaders have posted to social media about the rate hike, which lasts 10 months. 

Some suggested Democratic legislators, who have held majorities in both chambers for years, are responsible for all this. 

However, Republicans in 2017 were the ones who led the effort to keep Millstone open, with a long-term supply contract that is a major portion of the $800 million owed.  

Here is the tally from that vote. This was the House roll call and this was the Senate roll call.

Still, energy and technology committee ranking member Senator Ryan Fazio is among many Republicans now saying the public benefits portion of your electric bill needs to be downsized and moved into the state budget. 

“People are paying for it in their electricity bill, and these, these things aren't evaluated every two years, like every other thing in the budget is,” Fazio said. 

Committee co-chair Senator Norm Needleman explained that could lead to lawmakers playing politics with public benefits funding and the thousands who depend upon help with their power bills. 

A number of states besides Connecticut put surcharges on their power bills to help pay for public benefit costs.  

We asked him after this last price shock though if it’s worth taking another look at the idea of downsizing or changing the method of funding for the public benefit portion of the bill. 

“I'm always willing to look at this...we're not going to find, I think, a better solution, short of going back and reregulating the energy markets,” Needleman said. 

State regulators are taking another vote on this arrangement and we understand it is possible some kind of relief could be on the way now or in the near future.   

It is worth noting, Marissa Gillett, the chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), was the lone dissenter in the vote to have electric customers pay the giant increase in rates over 10 months versus stretching those payments out longer.  

If you want to file a complaint about the public benefits rate increase, you can file one here.

NBC Connecticut Responds also looked into what billpayers can do about the cost. You can see some of those suggestions here.