Connecticut residents are demanding action on rising electric bills as recent rate hikes from state regulators fuel customer frustration. Republicans are asking for a special session to address the issue, but Democrats say it’s more complicated than that.
“My bill was $515 last month, and … I was shocked when I opened it. $120 for the public benefit,” said Cindy Kiesewetter of Simsbury.
The sticker shock still remains for Eversource customers in Simsbury, seeing their electric bills go up. Much of it coming after July 1, when the public benefits portion of the bill went up dramatically. One customer says his total bill went up about $85 from June to July.
“That’s a night out with my wife for dinner. That’s basically what it equates to,” said David Zell of Simsbury.
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Eversource said that portion of the bill funds state mandated approved programs and policies that they don’t control or profit from.
The latest hike is to pay back more than $800 million to Eversource to keep the Millstone nuclear plant open and pay back the four-year moratorium on power shutoffs that started in the pandemic. Senator Lisa Seminara (R-Avon) says she wants to see a special session happen to discuss solutions like using the state surplus to pay for public benefits.
“That should be covered by the state. If the governor is going to make that moratorium, why should the rate payer cover that?” she said.
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Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex) says he acknowledges the timing of the hike isn’t great and wrote to state regulators to reconsider allowing the money owed to be paid off over a longer period of time, to limit the rate hikes.
“We think that this has been a real burden on ratepayers. So, we sent that letter in. I suspect that there'll be a lot of support for that,” he said.
He says the likely cooler weather starting next month could bring relief for many customers.
“We'll see total bills come down quite dramatically. It usually happens in September, starting in the middle of the month,” Sen. Needleman said.
The independent Office of Consumer Counsel did file an appeal asking state regulators to reconsider the hikes and spread them out over a longer period, or to open new proceedings to find ways to allow customers to better understand their electric bills.
