August 27, 2024

Reddington-Hughes Signs Petition for Special Session

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Photo: Reps. Karen Reddington-Hughes and Dave Yaccarino stand next to the petition calling for a special session after Tuesday morning’s news conference at the Legislative Office Building.

HARTFORD – Connecticut Republicans have signed petitions to call the legislature into a special session to address the increased cost of electric rates. State Rep. Karen Reddington-Hughes (R-Woodbury) was at the Legislative Office Building on Tuesday morning to present her signed petition with the group of House and Senate lawmakers. The petitions were later filed with the Secretary of State.

“Our call is straightforward – let’s get some immediate relief to ratepayers by doing what we can to cut costs now. I’ve been hearing from my community on this issue, loud and clear. Bills are too high, and swift action must be taken,” said Reddington-Hughes.

Reddington-Hughes is calling for legislative action to be taken on the following items:

Moving the ‘public benefits’ charge to the state budget and off the electric bill
Allocate the remaining ARPA funds to offset costs accrued by the shut-off moratorium that lasted roughly 4 whole years
Cap all future power purchasing agreements to no more than 150% of the wholesale electric market
Redefine Class I energy sources to enable competition to lower procurement cost
Restore the autonomy of PURA, removing the regulatory body from the purview of DEEP and the governor’s office

“This is a nonpartisan issue, impacting all Connecticut communities. It’s unfair to continually ask ratepayers to dump out their pockets to fund ‘feel good’ green initiatives or to cover someone else’s bill during these difficult economic times. Rash decisions were made at the end of this year’s session when ARPA funding was allocated for increased higher education costs and earmarked projects that benefit only a few. We have a small window of opportunity to correct those mistakes and we should capitalize on that before we run of time,” said Reddington-Hughes.

Reddington-Hughes expressed concern that the shift of financial burden, attributed to the shut-off moratorium instituted by the governor, will create a new hardship for other ratepayers. In addition, she raised concerns that most Connecticut drivers do not own an electric vehicle (EV) and it’s an obvious imbalance to ask those ratepayers to build out the EV charging infrastructure that the majority party is calling for.

Republicans have also created a website that residents across the state can visit to help urge their elected officials to sign the petition for a special session. To learn more, visit www.specialsessionct.com.

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