Connecticut businesses and residents have seen their electricity bills increase dramatically since July 1st, 2020. Following a state-approved rate case in 2019, Eversource has passed along delivery rate increases to ratepayers and according to recent news reports, this increase nearly doubles what they usually pay. Deregulated energy markets like Connecticut allow ratepayers to choose who supplies the power but they are locked into the delivery of that power through the local utility. A healthy result of deregulation has allowed supply rates to remain stable over the past 10 years due to market competition.
Unfortunately, Eversource & United Illuminating delivery rates have been going up progressively over the years, now resulting in delivery rates being 2 to 3 times higher than supply rates. Per a letter to PURA, the increase in rates are due to a variety of factors including transmission updates and the payments associated with the power purchase agreement for the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant. This steep increase has ensured that Connecticut remains the state with the highest electric costs.
Consumers can lower energy costs through strategic purchasing and implementing on-site generation or energy efficiency projects. For commercial buildings, it is not enough to simply buy the cheapest energy price at present. Depending on how and when you use electricity, upgrading LED lighting or automatic building energy use controls can reduce the overall demand on the grid allowing the facility to be rewarded with lower charges. If the building or property can host an on-site generation project, the consumer can generate electricity at a fixed low price for the next 20 to 30 years, avoiding any potential utility rate increases and maintaining independence from the power grid. It is important that, on days of high energy demand, commercial customers reduce energy demand during peak hours to help avoid being assigned a high capacity tag.
Consumers can also become involved in annual rate cases by attending public meetings and submit complaints and suggestions. The public meeting calendar can be found here with an upcoming meeting on August 5, 2020, at 10 AM.