Connecticut Light & Power Co. asked for approval from Connecticut regulators to hike rates $210 million beginning in 2011, when customer charges are expected to fall significantly due to bonds being paid off.
CL&P is the dominant electric utility in Fairfield County.
In a letter to the Connecticut Department of Public Utilities, CL&P said it had delayed a rate hike by a year due to the recession”™s impact on customers and that it has sought to control costs by freezing salaries for managers. The company stated it needed the funds to build and operate its electric distribution system; provide good customer service; and provide a “fair return to investors,” in its words.
Through the first three quarters of 2009, CL&P”™s Hartford-based parent Northeast Utilities had net income of $249 million, or $1.43 a share, versus net income of $193 million or $1.21 a share in the first nine months of 2008 before the recession hit.
In a written statement, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he would fight the increase on grounds customer rates had been expected to drop 5 percent.
“CL&P is seeking to rip the rug from under consumers at the instant they shed the crushing burden of these bonds,” Blumenthal said. “CL&P”™s proposal stomps out hopes for lower rates, hurting Connecticut”™s (competitiveness) and clobbering consumers yet again.”
