| Today, State Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex), Senate Chair of the Energy and Technology Committee, led the State Senate’s passage of legislation supporting low-income water customers by broadening the scope of a key state advisory board.
“When water rates are rising faster than inflation in the last two decades, we need to provide increased protections for state residents,” said Sen. Needleman. “This bill adds water services to the Low-Income Energy Advisory Board’s oversight, an important step forward to help connect people in need with the aid available to them.”
Senate Bill 384, “An Act Concerning The Low-Income Energy Advisory Board,” redesignates that board to include low-income water customers as well. The bill will require that board to make recommendations to the General Assembly on heating and water assistance programs benefitting low- and moderate-income households and requires that board to come together and work out recommendations to improve availability, administration and implementation of heating and water assistance programs.
The advisory board will also advise and assist the Office of Policy and Management, the Department of Social Services and Department of Energy and Environmental Protection in planning, development, implementation and coordination of water assistance programs and policies, including programs and policies alleviating the impact of utility rates.
By expanding this board to cover water in addition to heating, the legislation will better ensure that Connecticut ratepayers can affordably access water. According to Claire Coleman and Nora Duncan, Chair and Vice-Chair of the Low-Income Energy Advisory Board, in testimony supporting the bill, the national average residential water bill has increased nearly 50 percent in the last 14 years. While the Federal government created the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Plan in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is slated to close in June 2024, leaving a gap that this change in policy can help fill by increasingly advocating for water affordability.
The bill passed the Energy and Technology Committee by a unanimous 20-0 vote in March and passed the Senate today unanimously. It now heads to the House for further consideration.
Caption: Senator Needleman speaks on the Senate floor Wednesday. |
