More CT utilities experience credit downgrades as lawmakers call for changes

Another credit downgrade for Connecticut’s utilities could hit you in the pocket.

The most recent coming from Moody’s ratings and impacts Connecticut Natural Gas and Southern Connecticut Gas, and their parent company, Avangrid.

The downgrade comes on the heels of an S&P downgrade last week that impacted all of Connecticut’s utilities.

Republicans in Hartford called for action from their colleagues across the aisle on Thursday.

“Think of that just the same as when you get a note or email that your own personal credit rating has dropped,” Charlotte Ancel, vice president of investor relations at Avangrid, said.

She warns it’s customers that feel the impact in their pockets when a credit rating is downgraded like this.

She pointed to the state’s unstable regulatory environment and cuts to their rates by PURA over the last few years, for the downgrade.

“The cost to borrow money and to build important infrastructure will go up,” she said.

Put simply, she said ratepayers are on the hook for fronting that increased cost.

House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora held a press conference calling for a change in attitude toward these credit downgrades from his colleagues across the aisle.

“The Connecticut Democrats and the governor are engaging in a game of finger pointing and a game of chicken and unfortunately no one is driving that vehicle, and I think we are headed toward a crash," Candelora said.

He points at democrats, blaming the governor and legislative leadership for enabling what he described as a broken and failed system.

“We have leadership in the democratic party and in the governor’s office that would rather finger point than try to solve the problem,” Candelora said.

He is calling on Governor Ned Lamont to fill PURA’s board of commissioners to its five-commissioner capacity. When asked about the call for action later in the day, Lamont pushed back.

“We have some of the highest electric prices in the lower 48 states and if the answer is going from three PURA commissioners to five PURA commissioners, god bless you,” Lamont said.

He said a full board of commissioners won't solve the problem. Instead, he doubled down on lowering the demand of energy and increasing supply of available energy to curb volatility.

“These guys have a lot of leverage out there and they got a lot of capital expenses out there to invest, my job is to make sure we work together in a partnership going forward, and remember affordability is key,” Lamont said.

When asked about these credit ratings, an expert with the University of New Haven said once these credit ratings take effect, they are hard to reverse. Connecticut’s regulatory environment, he noted, is volatile, so going back will take time.

 “Unfortunately, the Public Utility Authority, they are political in nature, they are a state agency, it could take a while,” James Mohs with the University of New Haven said.

But he also noted these credit downgrades are larger than just PURA. Utilities around the region and country, are taking hits.

“Every industry that is capital-intense, and their risk is a function of their income is suffering the same thing, not just the utilities, every industry, but we feel it because we get a bill,” Mohs said.

When asked about what she would like to see to begin the process of getting back on track, Ancel said it comes down to clarity and consistency from state regulators.

“The ability to invest money and get clarity, that we will be able to recover that money, and have predictable rules how the system will work,” Ancel said.

Candelora also noted in his press conference that he would also consider larger reforms to PURA, but at minimum is asking the Board of Commissioners to be full by the start of the legislative session, which kicks off on Jan. 8.