Electricity Bills in Connecticut Might Get Even Higher, but You Can Influence the Decision.
Eversource is expected to file a proposal to raise electricity rates with Connecticut’s utility regulator, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), this spring— its first since 2017. For Connecticut electric customers, this is the most significant decision about electricity costs in nearly a decade.
What is a rate case?
A rate case is a formal legal proceeding where a utility asks state regulators for permission to change how much it charges customers. In Connecticut, PURA makes those decisions. Because electric utilities in CT are regulated monopolies, customers cannot choose a different company to deliver their electricity. The state sets the rules for what the utility can charge, and a rate case is when those rules get.
During these proceedings, the utility will present its costs, investments, and future revenue needs, and argue for what rates – that is, what customers get charged for their electricity – should be. Other parties, including the Office of Consumer Counsel, environmental groups, and community organizations, can formally participate, challenge the utility’s numbers, and advocate for fair rates. It is not just a technical accounting exercise. This proceeding determines who pays for what, and the allowed benefit to shareholders.
The Office of Consumer Counsel, Connecticut’s independent ratepayer advocate, will be at the table throughout this proceeding. The OCC is a statutory party in every rate case, and its staff of attorneys and economists will investigate the utilities’ filing, challenge costs they deem unreasonable, and advocate for consumers at every stage. That work matters, and ratepayers should know someone is fighting for them in that room. But the OCC fights harder, and more effectively, when the communities it represents show up alongside it. When ratepayers stay silent, the record reflects it. Commissioners weigh the evidence before them, and a proceeding dominated by utility lawyers and utility technical experts, with little direct testimony from the people actually paying the bills, tells its own story.
Why is this upcoming rate case a big deal?
Eversource’s last general electric rate review was finalized in 2018. Since then, nearly a decade of costs, deferred decisions, and infrastructure investment has not been reviewed by regulators in a general rate proceeding. All of it comes due at once in this filing. According to reporting by Inside Investigator, Eversource has projected that this proceeding could encompass more than $3 billion in potential costs, including over $1.5 billion in storm cost recovery claims (with $7 million accruing in interest every month), $1.2 billion for advanced metering infrastructure, and over $400 million in base revenue and reliability investments. Every one of those dollars is ultimately a question about who pays and whether those costs were incurred responsibly. The answer will show up on every Eversource electric bill in Connecticut.
Connecticut already has some of the highest electricity costs in the country. That backdrop makes this proceeding matter because it will shape electric bills for years.
The stakes go beyond the total dollar amount. The case will decide which customer classes bear the burden of maintaining the grid, whether there are protections for low-income households, and how clean energy investments are paid for. Getting those answers wrong has real consequences for real people.
How can I engage?
This proceeding is public. PURA accepts written public comments, holds public hearings where residents can testify, and allows organizations to formally intervene in the docket. Formal intervenors gain the right to submit evidence, cross-examine witnesses, and file legal briefs.
If you want to be made aware of when Eversource files its application with PURA, sign up here for ways to stay engaged.
For more on how this process works and how to participate, PURA has published resources at: https://portal.ct.gov/pura/industries/rate-case-information and https://portal.ct.gov/PURA/Industries/Rates.