Dozens of frustrated electricity customers gathered at the Capitol Thursday, pleading with lawmakers to return for a special session to address a recent rate hike.
The rally-goers want lawmakers to remove the public benefits portion from electricity bills, saying a July 1 hike to the public benefits rate is forcing people to make difficult decisions.
“I don’t think the people that are voting this and that, those are the people they’re effecting,” Cindy Jordan, who organized the rally, said.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, or PURA, approved a hike, effective July 1, for customers of Eversource and United Illuminating.
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The public benefits charge typically pays for clean energy programs and other initiatives.
The recent bump, which lasts 10 months, is for two things: a deal lawmakers passed in 2017 to keep Millstone Power Plant open and the costs of unpaid bills because of a moratorium on shutoffs during the pandemic.
The cost of the Millstone deal accounts for nearly 80% of the July 1 rate increase.
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Republicans at the time led the charge to approve the deal, but they’ve been critical of other policies funded by the public benefits charge.
For example, they suggested using American Rescue Plan Act Funding to cover unpaid bills from the pandemic.
“These public benefit charges need to be removed and they need to be removed now,” Sen. Stephen Harding, (R-Minority Leader) said.
Gov. Ned Lamont said he’s tasked his administration with looking to see if the state has any remaining ARPA dollars to pay for those bills.
He said other proposals should wait until lawmakers return for a special session.
“I didn’t hear anything else that was particularly timely or would make a difference,” he said.
Eversource issued a statement saying the summer temperatures –among the hottest in Connecticut history – are the main reason customers saw their bills surged.
A spokesman also said the company is working with lawmakers on possible solutions, but warned against trying to delay Eversource’s efforts to recover its costs.
Spokesman Tricia Modifica said, "The corresponding rate increase that began July 1 was a result of Connecticut delaying payments on costs that could have been paid more predictably in the past, an effect of kicking the can down the road.”
