HARTFORD, CT U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called on regulators to urgently enact a number of reforms to ease the burden on Connecticut consumers, including breaking up utility provider giant Eversource. Despite rising profits and multi-million dollar executive compensation, electricity costs increased amid the pandemic, followed by staggering power outages resulting from its lack of adequate preparation for Tropical Storm Isaias.
“The time for tinkering is over. We need to think big about becoming smaller, more responsive, and smarter in the way we do public utilities and deliver power to the consumers of Connecticut.” said Blumenthal at the hearing. “This system is clearly failing men and women in Connecticut who every day pay their electric bills. It is a particularly egregious failure in the midst of this pandemic when families are struggling to put food on the table, clothe their children, and pay their rents.”
Blumenthal pressed regulators to freeze the fees imposed on consumers, and instead order refunds and reimbursements for losses Connecticut consumers experienced, saying: “it is deeply and flagrantly unfair that they are paying the highest rates in the continental United States for some of the worst performance.”
Blumenthal also called for a break up of Eversource and for the creation of a Connecticut-based utility, possibly with public ownership to mirror advantages of municipal owned-utilities that experience lower rates and quicker repair response times. Blumenthal also touted the success of cooperative ownerships and locally responsive utilities in states like Maryland, saying: “Connecticut-owned and operated, with direct accountability to the people of Connecticut. There is nothing novel or untried about it.”
Blumenthal advocated for the elimination of guaranteed profits for Eversource and ensuring that rates are linked to performance, stressing that no other business in the country has guaranteed profits untethered to performance: “clearly the link between profit and performance should be established firmly. People, mainly the customers, need to be put before profit – a priority that has been clearly lacking in the past.”
Blumenthal called on PURA to join him in continuing to press the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to change the grossly anti-consumer process for approving transmission line projects and costs. As Connecticut Attorney General, Blumenthal has sued and argued in the U.S. Supreme Court against FERC and the inequities and inefficiencies of the current process for rate setting and decision-making by FERC.
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