Rep. Callahan Joins Republican Colleagues in Call for Special Session on Electric Rates

HARTFORD, CT — State Representative Patrick Callahan (R-New Fairfield) joined his Republicans colleagues in Hartford on Thursday in offering solutions to tackle perpetually high electric rates in Connecticut. They called for a special legislative session and said it’s time for Governor Lamont to take a more active role in bringing together lawmakers, utility companies, and government regulators to develop a reasonable state strategy on energy.

“Our neighbors need help now. We’ve outlined a plan for both short-term and long-term relief from high energy costs. We sounded the alarm about this in February before it happened, offering solutions then and we were ignored,” said Callahan. “This Public Benefits increase isn’t the only one coming, and this time it’s because of the push for EVs. A Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) draft decision would allow Eversource and UI to recover millions of dollars spent on the EV rebate program more quickly through annual rate adjustments– aka higher rates on consumers– for the first time.”

Connecticut Republicans held a news conference at the Legislative Office Building, where they put forward proposals to provide rate relief to customers who for years have been frustrated by costly bills that they say are squeezing their personal finances. The proposals mirror those offered by the House and Senate Republicans in February, when they urged action as they reminded Democrats about the financial pressure on constituents caused by high electric bills.

The proposals outlined Thursday include:

• Limit all future Power Purchase Agreements so that no contract can be for more than 150% over the wholesale electric market price.
• Study moving public policy charges off ratepayer bills and into the budget.
• Redefine Class I renewable energy sources to include all forms of hydropower and all nuclear power to lower the cost of these energy sources.
• Separate the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA)
• Cover the portion of rate increases associated with the moratorium on electric service shutoffs by reallocating remaining end-of-year American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, and examining budgetary options that could make available as much as $1 billion such as:
  1. Allocate the FY24 General Fund surplus of $329.3 million for ratepayers.
  2. Reduce the Budget Reserve Fund maximum threshold from 18 percent back to 15 percent permanently, reallocating the difference to ratepayers.
  3. Strike language in the Democrats’ 2024 budget “stabilization” plan allowing ARPA funds to be used for a budget deficit in FY25—the historic Rainy Day Fund levels can sustain any projected deficit in FY25.

One of the Republicans passed-over proposals from February could have blunted the increase ratepayers are seeing now — using ARPA funds to cover the cost tied to a roughly four-year state-imposed moratorium on electric service shutoffs. The decision not to vote on this proposal left ratepayers covering the bills of those who didn’t pay theirs.