Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has scheduled the State Bond Commission to vote next week on the release of $155 million in state bond funding that he intends to put to use in cutting electric bills for customers in Connecticut. The state money would be used to offset certain public benefits charges on electric bills, thus reducing electric bills by lowering those costs.
“Using state bond funding as a means of reducing public benefits charges is one action we can take to provide some savings on consumers’ electric bills, but I must stress that this is only one step in the effort to make energy rates more affordable and we need to do more to address the actual costs of generating and delivering electricity,” Lamont said.
He credited legislators in the General Assembly for collaboration during the recent legislative session that made this step possible.
“Going forward, I believe there is even more that we can do to lower electric bills, and I am encouraged that we can continue this cooperative effort and develop policies that will produce additional savings for consumers,” Lamont said. “I am urging the Bond Commission members to vote in favor of approving these allocations.”
Public benefit charges on electric bills are used to pay for a variety of initiatives.
According to Lamont’s office, the average customer savings that would be generated on electric bills still are being calculated, however it is anticipated that customers will see a reduction in a range of around $10 per month in the public benefits portion of their bills, depending on the utility, customer type, and usage. The reductions will likely take effect as early as September and continue for several months into 2026. Another round of state bond funding is expected to be released in 2026 that will enable a second round of reductions in public benefits charges to take effect and continue into at least the first several months of 2027.
Lamont’s office points out that the customer savings that would be achieved by this state bond funding comes in addition to the 25% reduction in public benefits charges that the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority approved this past May, as well as the 13% reduction in supply rates for Eversource customers and 14% reduction in supply rates for United Illuminating customers that went into effect on July 1.
The State Bond Commission is scheduled to meet Friday, August 1.
