Monroe resident delivers petition to halt electric public benefits charges

HARTFORD – A petition calling for the removal from electric bills charges to pay for EV funding and rebates as well as paying for Covid debt owed to the state’s two electric utilities was delivered to Gov. Ned Lamont Thursday, Oct. 24 at the Capitol.

The petition, which is on change.org, was created by Monroe resident Scott Pearson and as of Oct. 24 included more than 68,000 signatures. The chief action it demands from the governor and state legislators is the revocation of the public benefit charge, which funds renewable energy, energy efficiency, low-income assistance, and low-emissions energy production programs. Additionally, the charge also includes a temporary item that has ratepayers help pay for the Millstone nuclear power plant power purchase agreement.

Pearson along with other state legislators made their way to the state Legislative Office Building and Capitol Thursday to deliver the petition to the governor’s office.

As of 11 a.m. Thursday, the governor had not issued a comment on the petition.

The petition states: “We, the Residents of Connecticut AND Ratepayers of Eversource and UI (United Illuminating) demand that Governor Lamont, Legislators of Connecticut, and appointed director of PURA (Public Utilites Regulatory Authority), Marissa Paslick Gillett, revoke the massive increase in our electric bill, now labeled “PUBLIC BENEFIT.”

The petition also states that electric bills should only be used to collect revenue for electricity.

On July 1, the state Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC) estimated Eversource customers (using 700 kWh per month) would see a monthly bill increase of $47 starting that month. But actually, most bills increased by hundreds of dollars. On Sept. 1, Eversource added 0.835 cents per kilowatt hour to the electric bills of their customers, and UI increased its customers’ bills by 0.4592 cents per kilowatt hour. Those rate hikes were deemed as regular annual increases.

For some businesses, they have seen their United Illuminating bills nearly double. The culpit is the public benefits charges portion of the bill, which has been put in place to pay for energy programs authorized by the General Assembly, the Conversation and Load Management Fund, the, renewable programs and income loan programs.

For businesses, large and small, the impact is starting to hit the bottom line.

“What happened on July 1? What were the primary cost-drivers?” said Gillett. “Overwhelmingly, the primary driver was the 77 percent of the increase was attributable to the Millstone Power purchase agreement (of generated power) that should be paid over a 10-month period.”

State Sen. Tony Hwang, who represents Bethel, Easton, Fairfield, and Newtown, this summer called for both parties to work together to find meaningful relief for ratepayers and hold a special session to address the issue.

“I welcome my fellow Democrat legislators to join the Republicans and sign this petition to Governor Lamont, emphasizing the dire need for a special session to address rising energy bills as a nonpartisan issue,” Senator Hwang remarked. “I am not interested in playing the blame game of how we got here. We must look forward to addressing utility prices and the impact of the ‘public benefits’ section on ratepayers’ bills.”