Rob Blanchard Can Help Connecticut Residents Lower Electricity Bills Once Elected

From his first day in office, Rob Blanchard can begin advancing a practical program with the potential to lower electric bills for his constituents.

During my service on Fairfield’s Representative Town Meeting, I founded and chaired the Committee on Energy Initiatives. The committee was created to move beyond simply complaining about Connecticut’s high energy costs and identify practical solutions that could help Fairfield residents.

One of the most promising solutions we examined was Community Energy Aggregation.

Community Energy Aggregation allows a municipality to combine the electricity demand of participating residents and use that purchasing power to seek competitive bids from energy suppliers. Instead of each household navigating the energy market alone, the town can negotiate on behalf of a much larger group. Our neighbor, Massachusetts, and other states have enacted legislation authorizing versions of these programs. Connecticut should give its towns the same opportunity.

After researching the approach and speaking with experts, I drafted a resolution endorsing Community Energy Aggregation. The Fairfield RTM passed that resolution unanimously. That vote demonstrated that lowering energy costs is not a partisan issue. It is a practical concern shared by families, seniors and businesses throughout our community.

Rob supported my efforts throughout this process. Importantly, his support went beyond words. He provided introductions to knowledgeable people who helped me better understand aggregation, the legislative process and what Connecticut would need to do to make the program possible.

Unlike proposals that depend on persuading neighboring states and private companies to undertake the long, costly process of building new natural-gas pipelines, Community Energy Aggregation can address the generation portion of residents’ electric bills more directly.

Community Energy Aggregation will not solve every part of Connecticut’s energy-cost problem, and no program can guarantee savings under every market condition. But it offers residents a realistic opportunity to reduce generation costs through competition and bulk purchasing.

Connecticut must pass enabling legislation before Fairfield and other municipalities can fully pursue this approach. Passing that legislation would not require Fairfield to establish a program. It would give our town the authority to evaluate the market, seek competitive bids and decide whether aggregation could produce meaningful savings for residents.

Rob already understands the program and has supported our local efforts to advance it. As our state senator, he can begin working immediately to secure the enabling legislation that Fairfield and other Connecticut communities need.

Connecticut residents need more than expressions of concern about high electric bills. They need legislators willing to advance practical solutions. Rob Blanchard has shown that he is ready to do that.

That is an important reason I am supporting Rob Blanchard for State Senate.

John K. Kuhn, CFA
Fairfield