Some lawmakers were back in Hartford Wednesday meeting with Governor Ned Lamont about those high electric rates that have people across the state pinching pennies to keep up with.
Lawmakers were in the closed-door meeting for about an hour and according to lawmakers coming out the meeting was productive.
“My last month’s Eversource bill was $807,” Katherine Comeau, of Glastonbury, said.
The sticker shock is still setting in for folks around the state as bills roll in. Much of the increase is based on the public benefit charge tied to a power plant deal and recovering costs for not shutting peoples power off during the pandemic.
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Also, soaring temperatures in July, which means electricity usage was up.
“The last two months have been more than I have been paying for half a year,” Comeau said as she told us about her bill.
She is now considering solar to help offset some of these costs in the future. While others wrestle with their bills, some lawmakers were meeting with Governor Ned Lamont in Hartford to discuss high electric rates.
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“Discuss maybe what we can find common ground of,” State Senator Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich) said.
Short-term solutions include the use of leftover ARPA money to buy down costs hitting ratepayers. Lawmakers, though, say it's unclear how much ARPA money is left over.
“Even if it is not as much as people want, we are hearing you and stepping forward to make some change,” State Senator Bill Buckbee (R-67th District) said.
Some republicans are also taking aim at the public benefits charge itself, wondering what can be cut out to save a few dollars.
“The other part is to dissect that and there are a lot of pieces of that that can come out of that right away,” Sen. Buckbee said.
The governor noted post-meeting he is open to options including spreading out payback of deficits or credits to reduce sticker shock. He is also open to the ARPA buydown.
“It’s not enough to make a big difference, but it’s enough to make a small difference,” Gov. Lamont said.
Long term, he said there was agreement on both sides of the aisle to focus on energy procurement from sources like wind, solar or natural gas and hydro, but this is a regional effort.
There was also talk around energy efficiency programs.
“How can we reduce our demand through efficiency and more importantly how do we get more power generation here in the state of Connecticut,” Gov. Lamont said.
The governor said they should know within the next 10 days what is feasible in terms of a ARPA buydown to save customers costs. At this point, he said a special session regarding high electric rates doesn’t seem likely.
Comeau was happy to hear lawmakers were at the table seeking solutions, but whatever that solution is, she has an ask of elected officials.
“Just more transparency, I feel like there is no transparency,” Comeau said.
