AREA FUEL COMPANIES FIGHT GOVERNOR'S ENERGY PLAN

New Haven: When Jennifer Tracey-Carlo heard about Governor Dannel Malloy’s proposed 6.8 Billion dollar energy plan it was like someone punched her in the gut.

 “I felt like I could see the possible demise of my business; a business that has been in my family for more than 80 years,” Tracey-Carlo said. 

 Her Howard Avenue business, Tracey Energy Services, has been part of her family since 1931 and serves about 3500 households in the greater New Haven area. 

 The State’s proposed 6.8 billion energy plan calls on converting up to 300,000 homes in Connecticut to natural gas and would build 900 miles of new pipelines across the state.

 “I was shocked that the Government could come up with and support a plan like this that supports utilities over small business,” Tracey-Carlo said who runs the business with her husband. 

 “It’s unfair because the utilities wrote the plan and it’s using taxpayer money to help implement it,” Ralph Carlo said. “The State is essentially picking the winner by giving incentives to use natural gas. If a consumer wants to switch, I have no problem with that but the State shouldn’t be encouraging them to do so at our expense. I’m a taxpayer too. My money shouldn’t be used to put myself out of business.”

 Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association or ICPA,which represents 600 home heating oil companies, renewable fuel advocates, HVAC companies and propane companies wants the state to pull the plug on the project, especially with the looming 1.2 billion dollar budget deficit. 

 “There is never a time to be spending taxpayer money on a project like this,” said Gene Guilford, President of the cromwell based ICPA. “The State needs to take any notion of spending taxpayer money on this  plan off the table.” 

ICPA is against the project because it expands a natural gas monopoly with a net worth of more than $15 billion, puts consumers in jeopardy by locking them into a natural gas monopoly where they have no choice of an energy provider, gives utility companies an unfair advantage and it’s a plan Connecticut taxpayers should never be asked to finance.

 “The entire foundation of the energy plan is the mistaken assumption that natural gas prices will stay the way they are today and last for a long, long time,” said Gene Guilford, President of the cromwell-based ICPA. “This Government can’t predict its finances from one year to the next. Now, they’re asking us to believe they can predict energy prices five to six years from now!”