Summer energy supply rates will decrease for both United Illuminating and Eversource customers, but Eversource customers will see an overall increase in their total bills based on costs associated with state-required programs and policies for utilities.
Pending Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURA) approval, United Illuminating customers will see their bills reduced monthly by about $1.55, while energy prices for Eversource customers will drop from 14.71 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) to 8.99 cents per kWh.
Energy supply rates change twice a year, on 1 January and 1 July. Eversource and UI can only charge customers what they pay generators to produce power for customers.
Residential customers are seeing increases in the “public benefits” portion of their bills, which includes state and federally mandated costs such as financial assistance, energy efficiency programs, and purchasing renewable and carbon-free electricity.
Eversource said its residential electricity customers will see an increase of about $48 per month for 10 months for that portion of their bill. According to a statement from Eversource, residential customers who get standard service from Eversource, using an average of 700 kilowatt-hours per month, will see a net increase of about $8, or 4%, on their total bill.
“The lower energy price is certainly good news for customers, and we are pleased that it will help largely offset the increase in the public benefits portion of the bill that covers the cost of running state-mandated programs,” said Steve Sullivan of Eversource. President of Electrical Operations in Connecticut. “Unfortunately, volatility in customer bills continues to be an issue, and we are committed to helping mitigate these impacts for customers, which is why we have proactively proposed solutions that will create price stability to help businesses and families plan their budgets.”
For UI’s part, company representatives said utility fees are expected to increase from 1.73 cents per kilowatt-hour to 6.18 cents per kilowatt-hour. This 257% increase is mostly to pay for fixed-price power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the Millstone and Seabrook nuclear power plants as well as financial hardship assistance programs, according to the UI.
Between the lower supply rate and increased public benefit fees, UI estimates that its residential customers will end up saving 0.64 percent (or $1.55) on their monthly bills.
“Although Connecticut electric distribution companies, including UI, do not control bid rates or utility charges, we have been concerned since February, when we began our analysis of the cost impacts of policymakers’ priorities and programs, that our customers would see a decline Noticeable cost. “Higher bill when these increases take effect,” said Frank Reynolds, president and CEO of UI. “Fortunately, increases in utility costs have been fully mitigated by lower supply rates, so UI residential customers will see very little change in their total electricity bill beginning July 1 and continuing through the end of the year.”
State Sen. Norm Needleman, an Essex County Democrat who co-chairs the Legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee, said the initiatives that increased the public benefits portion of the Eversource and UI bills were the result of the Legislature’s care for its citizens.
“This rate adjustment comes after Eversource received a significant rate increase earlier this spring, and much of the cost relates to the 2018 and 2019 Millstone Agreement, which was bipartisan legislation that preserved state jobs and carbon-free energy,” Needleman said. “Pandemic-related outage prevention programs account for only about a quarter of these increases, and our state has done what it should to protect residents in need and mitigate the effects of changing weather systems.”
Residents can shop for lower rates and choose an outside electricity supplier by going to EnergizeCT.com.
