Rep. Yaccarino, CT House and Senate Republicans Offer Ideas to Provide Consumers Relief on Electric Bills

As Connecticut residents are opening up their January electricity bills, Connecticut Republicans today unveiled a detailed six-point plan to bring about stability and relief for consumers.

“It’s an honor serving the wonderful people of North Haven, and the state of Connecticut. When I speak to the residents of North Haven, this is a top issue for them. The cost of their energy bills has affected their daily lives. People are cutting back on groceries and other household expenses to pay rising energy rates,” Rep. Dave Yaccarino, Member of the Energy Committee said. “Small businesses are anxious about energy costs and need relief. We must act to increase our energy supply by investing in multiple local energy sources like natural gas, nuclear, and hydropower. We need to help the people of Connecticut.”

“It’s time for majority party Democrats who control the energy agenda to acknowledge what utility ratepayers and analysts have made clear: their entire approach to energy policy, rooted in flawed priorities and misguided philosophy, has failed everyone,” House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora said. “This session is an opportunity to shift toward affordability, and unfortunately their recent news conference made it clear they’re out of ideas. We urge Democrats to adopt our proposals as the foundation for the action residents want and deserve.”

“Electricity costs are still too damn high,” said Sen. Ryan Fazio, Ranking Senator on the Energy and Technology Committee. “Anyone who has seen their January electric bill can tell you that. Connecticut residents are hurting from these high costs and they are begging their elected officials to do something about it. We have been offering specific plans for the last two years to do just that, including removing public benefits charges that are inflating electric bills. We can do so much better in this state, and we are hoping to work with our Democratic colleagues to get these common sense ideas passed into law.”

The Republicans’ plan would:

1) remove Public Benefits Charges from electric bills

2) prohibit agreements that buy electricity at 150 % above the wholesale price

3) redefine “Class I renewable energy source” to include any

electricity generated from a hydropower or nuclear power generating facility

4) separate PURA from DEEP

5) eliminate any incentive program that increases electric demand, including, any electric vehicle rebate program

6) study ways to increase the supply of natural gas