Reps. Raghib Allie-Brennan (D-2nd, which includes Bethel, Danbury, Newtown, and Redding) and Anne Hughes (D-135th, which includes Easton, Redding and Weston), co-signed a letter to Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz and Majority Leader Matthew Ritter, expressing a desire to prove to “Connecticut residents that they are our priority and that we will stand up for them, not for big corporate interests like Eversource and United Illuminating.”
Specifically, the lawmakers are calling for the passage of legislation along the lines of House Bill 5542, “An Act Concerning Consumer Protection For Utility Customers,” which they wrote “would have provided protections to ratepayers and ensured utility executives are accountable to ratepayers.
“This legislation was originally introduced and passed in 2012,” the letter continued, “but was never called up in the Senate. Sadly, the former Representatives from our respective Districts did not support this important bill.”
The two utilities, especially Eversource, have been heavily criticized for their response to the storm, which arrived in Connecticut on Aug. 4; Fairfield County was hit particularly hard by power outages.
As of this morning, Eversource said that 118 of its 800,000-plus affected customers are still without power, while United Illuminating said just one of its roughly 150,000 affected customers, based in Hamden, was still in the dark.
In the wake of the storm, the state”™s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) has opened an investigation into the utilities”™ apparent unpreparedness, while various lawmakers have asked that Eversource”™s chairman, president and CEO James J. Judge resign and the company be broken up.
In addition, a $1.5 billion class-action suit has been brought against the utility.
“Although power has been restored to all impacted customers, our work is far from complete,” United Illuminating CEO Tony Marone said in a written statement. “You will continue to see our crews for weeks to come hard at work inspecting and fortifying our systems, particularly where there was extensive damage.”
Judge has characteristically remained silent throughout the episode. However, Eversource spokesman Mitch Gross has rejected suggestions by Gov. Ned Lamont, Attorney General William Tong, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and others that the utility offer compensation to customers for costs incurred directly by the outages, including for food that spoiled.
“We understand how difficult it is for our customers to be without power,” Gross said. “As this was an act of nature, we don”™t provide reimbursement, but we encourage our customers to reach out to their insurance carrier to see if it”™s in their homeowner”™s or renter”™s policy.”
Con Edison in New York has said it will reimburse customers up to $540 for spoiled food if they were left without power for 48 or more consecutive hours.
The state legislature”™s Energy & Technology Committee is expected to hold its own public hearing in the next few weeks; Judge has been asked to attend to answer their questions.
The reimbursements are part of why Con Ed’s electric rates are so much higher.
In the long run, consumers are better off with the lower rates.
CT consumer’s also pay less than Con Ed customers because CT deosn’t add on Sales Tax that typically runs just under 10% in NYS.
More ignorant, dishonest politicians pandering and trying to score points. If you want to blame someone Reps. Brennan and Hughes, take a look at PURA and how they have completely screwed over the ratepayers in CT. Their barrage of paperwork, regulations and crap they dump on the utilities over the many years has given us the absolute highest rates in the country. Add in the dumb-ass laws you and your kind have forced down our throats, such as requiring the utilities to use a significant percentage of renewable energy, means higher rates for all of us. Get over yourselves.
As far as Blumenthal, the former AG whose own staff thought he was a bumbling fool, only has two talents. First, sniffing out a TV camera anywhere within 100 miles and finding a way to get his wrinkly, sickly face in front of it to try and appear like he is relevant, and second, marryjng an obscenely rich woman. The guy has never worked a real job in his life. He has simply fed from the public trough. Of course, his wife provides the real life style which is why he is worth more than $100 million. Pretty good for a public servant.
Finally, Gov Ned “Howdy Doody” Lamont (go ahead, tell me he doesn’t remind you of Howdy Doody) just continues to look like a deer in the headlights whenever he has to speak. This is what you get when an unprepared, incompetent wealthy guy runs for office so he can add a resume enhancement.
We need to get rid of Crappy a.. Ned Lamont he is GARBAGE !!