In a brief filed June 4 with the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, Attorney General George Jepsen called on the authority to reject an electric rate increase request from The United Illuminating (UI) Co.
UI has filed a two-year plan with the authority (PURA) that would increase its electric distribution rates by $95 million. The proposed rate hike, which requires regulatory approval, would increase customers’ bills by 8.7 percent in the first year and another 3 percent in the second year.
Jepsen argues in his brief to PURA that evidence supports a rate hike of no more than $11.5 million in the first year and of no more than $12 million in the second year for a cumulative increase of $23.5 million.
He says the first-year rate increase could be offset by the return of $14.4 million in overearnings collected by UI from 2010 to 2012, and that the second-year rate increase could be offset by a surplus of Competitive Transition Assessment charge collections that Jepsen estimates will total $20.3 million for UI in 2013.
“Utility companies are allowed, under state law, to charge rates that are just and reasonable. I believe that, based on the evidence presented in this proceeding, the rates proposed by UI are far above levels that are just and reasonable,” Jepsen said in a June 4 statement. “UI has the highest electric rates in Connecticut and has consistently met or exceeded its authorized return on equity. UI has failed to show that it requires even higher rates to cover reasonable operating costs.”
