UI Parent Company Exec Receives $1.5 Million Departure Payment

The former president and chief executive officer of United Illuminating’s parent company, Avangrid Networks, will collect a $1.53 million payment as part of a separation agreement, Hearst Connecticut Media reported Monday.

The payment follow’s Catherine S. Stempien’s July resignation from her position as the CEO of Avangrid Networks and comes amid widespread frustration from Connecticut ratepayers, who have seen their electricity bills increase following rate adjustments requested by UI and Eversource.

Stempien was the first woman president and CEO of Avangrid Networks. The company has not provided a reason for her departure, according to news reports.

Stempien’s exit represents the second time in the last two years that a senior Avangrid executive has left the company and received a pay-out. Her predecessor, Dennis Arriola, left the company in May 2022. According to SEC filings, he received a $600,000 pay-out from the company after he left.

Stempien joined Avangrid in March 2021 following her work as Duke Energy’s state president in Florida, serving approximately 1.8 million electric retail customers in the central region of the state.

Avangrid Networks, which is a subsidiary of Avangrid, owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities in New York and New England, including The United Illuminating Co., Southern Connecticut Gas and Connecticut Natural Gas. The company’s serve about 3.3 million customers.

Households had their electric power shut off more than 1.5 million times in the first 10 months of 2022, a 29% increase over the same period in the previous year. In that same period, households were also disconnected from gas more than 380,000 times, a 76% increase over 2021. Utility customers struggling to pay their energy bills to avoid disconnection may accrue debt and forgo other key expenses such as food and use space heaters or even ovens to warm their homes.

Posted By Michelle Rappaport