Eversource is an arrogantly run, out-of-touch monopoly that treats customers like hostages. It profits off a broken system that should be reformed, and the big company should be busted up into smaller parts in Connecticut.
Those comments were from just the first hour of a marathon meeting Monday of the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA).
The meeting was to look into an Eversource electric rate increase that took the general public by surprise this summer (though it had been previously approved by PURA, a point brought up several times). The opening round of the meeting — which was scheduled to run until at least 6 p.m. Monday after a 10 a.m. start — gave a bunch of politicians their first chance to take a swing at Eversource in a formal setting, albeit the meeting was carried on Zoom.
PURA is the state’s regulatory body over utility companies such as Eversource, which provides electricity and natural gas to some 3.7 million customers in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
The company has been under fire for moving forward with an electric bill increase while scores of people are out of work and unable to provide food for their families, let alone pay more for electricity, all thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
In addition, politicians, including local leaders such as First Selectman George Temple of Oxford and First Selectman Kurt Miller of Seymour, lambasted the company for a poor response to Tropical Storm Isaias, which caused power outages of about a week earlier this month. Seymour is currently exploring whether it makes sense to ditch the company.
A PURA meeting on the Eversource (and United Illuminating) storm response is scheduled for Thursday.
Monday’s meeting focused on the price increase. PURA received more than 1,000 written comments and phone calls from Connecticut residents that are being included into the record of Monday’s meetings.
A review of some 40 of the emails (posted in a confusing matter here) have a common theme — how and why did Eversource decide to hit customers with big increases while the state, country and planet are being economically pummeled by a virus that has contributed to the deaths of 244 people locally and about 3,600 across the state?
Many of the emails were written after Tropical Storm Isaias, with residents sharing private struggles, such as job loss and medical problems made more complicated by the Eversource price increase and alleged lack of storm prep (and one emailer points out she had a generator in place, but it couldn’t keep up).
This resident’s family has urgent medical needs and questioned why the bill increased $100 even when the power was out for five days.
Many people simply sent in copies of their bills showing $100 increases, asking how it happened.
A Connecticut resident with a $500 bill pointed out he is currently unemployed.
A business owner submitted this bill for the record. The owner pointed out the business is closed, with one fridge plugged in.
Eversource took to Twitter an hour before the start of Monday’s session. The thread can be seen below. The utility company also posted a link explaining what drove the price spike (increased usage and hotter temperatures, explanations called into question by state lawmakers). Click here to read the full explanation.
An Eversource post on Twitter from 9 a.m. Monday.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal was the first person to address PURA Monday.
“The time for tinkering is over. We need to think big about becoming smaller, more responsive and smarter in the way we do public utilities and deliver power to the consumers of Connecticut,” Blumenthal said.
The Senator called for PURA to roll back the increase that hit its customers over the summer, and to rebate the charges collected. It was an idea brought up several times by state lawmakers of both parties from all over Connecticut.
Blumenthal said “it is deeply and flagrantly unfair that (Connecticut residents) are paying the highest rates in the continental United States for some of the worst performance.”
Blumenthal called for Eversource to be broken down and replaced with the creation of a Connecticut-based utility. He cited the fact that the City of Norwich operates its own utility — one that seems to have cheaper prices and better response time after storms.
Gov. Ned Lamont said PURA should not let the events of recent weeks “go to waste.” He meant that Eversource’s public tribulations in recent weeks have underscored the need to reform the system.
“This is not a time to just speak out and then go back to business. So, as Dick (Blumenthal) says, we’re going to think big about how we reform regulation,” Lamont said. “I think this is the time to do it.”
Lamont said that his former industry — the cable industry — was a monopoly in the state, too. Service got better once competitors such as DIRECT TV entered the field, Lamont said.
State Rep. Tom Delnicki, a Republican from South Windsor, urged PURA to roll back the Eversource for at least a year so the state could figure out how to reform the system — one that allows a monopoly due to the nature of the business while guaranteeing profits for the company.
“We need to get this right. Eversource is a monopoly. There has been discussion here about breaking up that monopoly, and that may very well be the medicine that the doctor orders,” Delnicki said.
