CT Governor, U.S. Senator, Call For Breakup Of Eversource

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., joined state and municipal leaders Monday at a Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority hearing to review a recent Eversource rate increase.

Blumenthal cut right to the chase and demanded the breakup of Eversource.

Declaring that "the time for tinkering is over," the senator called for the roll back of rate increases to pre-July levels, awarding customers refunds to compensate for their losses during Tropical Storm Isaias, and the dissolution of Eversource into a state owned and operated utility with "direct accountability to the people."

"There is no business in this country where they are guaranteed a profit, and executives make the tens of millions that top management (at Eversource) does," Blumenthal said, demanding that "the link between profit and performance should be established firmly."

Lamont agreed with Blumenthal, saying there was a "disconnect between pay and performance" for the utility's executives. Making a case for "performance-based regulation," he urged PURA to "think about what metrics we need to hold the utilities to."

"Electricity is a life-and-death service," the governor said, "and when it comes to reliability and consistency, you've got to get it right." Lamont, a former cable television executive, drew upon his business perspective battling DirecTV to call the public utilities a "natural monopoly" that, absent competition, would only perform better if more closely regulated.

The hearing, conducted on the Zoom teleconferencing platform, began at 10 a.m. and is scheduled to last into Monday evening. Most of the day will be given over for the public to speak.

Eversource released a statement on social media in advance of the hearing that contended the "high bills customers are now seeing are based on July usage, which is up an average of 35% from June. This increase is due to multiple heatwaves and more people being at home during the pandemic."

The latest bills also reflected the increase for power purchased from the Millstone Power Station nuclear plant operated by Dominion Energy in Waterford. Rep. Kathleen McCarty, who represents that town, called the utility company's citing a state mandate requiring it to buy electricity from the plant as a contributor to the higher bills "disingenuous."

The fee increases went into effect on July 1, but were temporarily suspended by PURA on July 31 following an outcry from residents.

Those increases came at a really bad time for Eversource's Public Relations Department. Within days of the new bills landing in customers' mailboxes, trees draped in power lines were landing in their driveways, heralding electrical outages that lasted up to 10 days in some neighborhoods.

Although Monday’s hearing was meant to be exclusively about the higher bills, many legislators took the opportunity to vent about Eversource's management of the storm aftermath. Matt Knickerbocker, whose tenure as Bethel First Selectman has covered multiple storms and extended outages, said that Eversource’s performance over the past few years "has gone backward," and that the utility was behaving "more like a hedge fund."

According to their statement, Eversource officials "understand customers' concerns regarding recent higher-than-normal bills during an already challenging time. As requested by PURA, we quickly made adjustments back to June rates, which is reflected in all bills from 8/3 on."

State Rep. Mitch Bolinsky, 106th District, cited the utility’s "corporate culture of arrogance," but also held PURA's feet to the fire, questioning the agency’s approval of the rate increase and what he said was a lack of legislative or public notice given to the fee hike.

State Rep. Gail Lavielle, who represents the 143rd District, said it was "hard to believe that we passed a big law about all this in 2012," noting that the utility "broke every rule of crisis communications" during the aftermath of the storm, including "hiding" the CEO. Five Eversource managers are scheduled to appear later in the hearing, but CEO James Judge was not on the roster of speakers.

Monday's hearing was called after PURA received more than 1,000 letters of comment, according to the agency's chair Marissa Gillett. The agency will continue to collect comment through Wednesday. You may email yours to pura.executivesecretary@ct.gov. Be sure to include "Docket No. 20-01-01 Comments" as the subject line.