SENATOR NEEDLEMAN ISSUES STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO EVERSOURCE SUPPLY RATE FILING

Today, State Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex), Senate Chair of the Energy and Technology Committee, released a statement in response to Eversource’s announcement today of filing a new supply price with state regulators. The new price of 8.99 cents per kilowatt hour is lower than expected, but combined with an increase approved for Eversource earlier this year raising other services – roughly three-quarters of that increase a result of the 2018 Millstone nuclear power plant bipartisan agreement – ratepayers will see their average bills increase by 4%.

“For standard service pricing to drop is a great thing for the ratepayers of Connecticut, who will see a decrease in their bills compared to what they were expected to see a month ago. Above all else, it is meaningful and relieving to know the people of Connecticut will experience less of a cost burden than expected. Our policies look to the future, but you can never build major market shocks like pandemics or wars into them, and those impacts on the world still influence our markets today.

This rate adjustment comes after Eversource received a significant rate increase earlier this spring, much of the cost related to the Millstone agreement of 2018 and 2019, which was bipartisan legislation that preserved state jobs and zero-carbon energy. Pandemic-related shutoff prevention programs only represent about a quarter of those increases, and our state has done what it should to protect residents in need and mitigate the impacts of changing weather systems.

While this news is relieving, it comes with concerns after Eversource’s recent public declarations not to invest in Connecticut’s power grid. That reduction of investments, if it leads to the quality of service falling in the event of severe storms, will not go over well with the ratepayers the company expects to pay current rates.”