Utility companies to hold Town Hall on energy rates at Ansonia Armory

 

Klarides-Ditria: COVID-19 payment program enrollment date extended

 

Winter Protection Program Also Now in Effect 

Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) is reminding all customers the enrollment period for the COVID-19 Payment Program for both residential and non-residential customers is extended through at least Feb. 9, 2021. 

Further, the Winter Protection Program, which protects eligible households against heat source shut-offs during the winter months, is also in effect from Nov. 1, 2020 through May 1, 2021.

PURA encourages customers experiencing difficulty paying their utility bills to contact their utility company and ask:
First, whether the residential customer is eligible to be “coded hardship” and enrolled in the Winter Protection Program.
Second, if ineligible for hardship status or a non-residential customer, to enroll in a COVID-19 Payment Plan.

All customers with past due balances are eligible to avoid utility shut-offs by enrolling in one of the programs provided by the state-regulated water, electric and gas utilities, Operation Fuel, or the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS).

Importantly, no customer actively enrolled in a COVID-19 Payment Program can have their service terminated for non-payment. 

COVID-19 payment plans are available to any residential or non-residential customer requesting assistance, without demonstrating financial need; require no initial or down payment, can be up to 24 months in length; waive any fees or interest in the calculation of the monthly payment amount; and facilitate the repayment of the past due balances in addition to the customer’s monthly bill.

For more information, contact your utility or PURA’s Consumer Affairs.


This is a press release from state Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-Seymour.

Guest column: Gentile opposes UI's rate hike request

By State Rep. Linda M. Gentile

Absolutely NOT!

United Illuminating is requesting yet another rate increase.  If approved, your monthly electric bill will increase by about 5 percent beginning in January 2017.  

I say, “No way!” 

I am an electric consumer just like you and I am very angry with UI.  
Let me explain why. 

State Rep. Linda M. Gentile

UI says it needs to boost rates to help offset $92 million spent in 2014 and 2015 to upgrade and strengthen its infrastructure.  
The company says these improvements were necessary to ensure that electricity stays on during, and after, powerful storms.  

While I understand that UI spent a considerable amount to upgrade and protect its delivery system, why should you and I have to pay for it? Isn’t that the cost of doing business?

This request for increased rates is just plain wrong! The company is seeking a three-year rate hike beginning in 2017.  
In 2018 it will look for another 5 percent increase and yet another 5 percent in 2019.  

First and foremost, we are already paying too much for electricity.  
Connecticut consumers pay among the highest rates in the nation. So, when it’s all said and done you would be paying, on average, about $360 more per year in 2019.  This is outrageous and unacceptable!

Furthermore, this increased utility cost will harm our fragile economy. 
While the Connecticut economy has certainly been picking up recently, forcing us to pay more for our lights, air conditioning and other electrical needs gives consumers less money to spend on other goods and services, causing additional hardship on our local economy. It is just one more straw to break the camel’s back.  
We are still trying to recover from the Great Recession and higher prices for electricity will hurt working families, forcing them to cut costs elsewhere just to make ends meet. 

The Public Utility Regulatory Authority must stop this madness. 
At a time when energy costs are trending downward, it is inconceivable that UI would ask for increased rates.  Although there has been increases in the cost of distribution, it is my belief that the company should be promoting new grid technologies that would not only benefit consumers, but would also be good for the environment. 

Instead of a rate increase, UI should be focused on reducing their rates in accordance with a law that the legislature passed in 2015 that required UI’s fixed charges be reduced to less than $8.

I am asking that you add your voice to mine in opposition to higher energy bills.  
Tell the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority that enough is enough!  We don’t want to pay more for our already costly electricity.  PURA has two public hearings on the UI rate increase request.  
The first is at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 8 at Bridgeport City Hall in Bridgeport, followed on Sept. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Mitchell Hall of Records in New Haven. 

Additional public hearings will be held during the month of September at the PURA offices at Ten Franklin Square, New Britain.

We need to send a clear message to regulators, and United Illuminating, that we do not want to pay exorbitant prices for electricity. It is immoral!

This is a press release from the House Democrats' office. Gentile represents Ansonia and Derby. 

Crisco expresses dismay in CL&P rate hike

State Sen. Joseph J. Crisco 

HARTFORD - State Sen. Joseph J. Crisco Jr., D-Woodbridge, has expressed disappointment in CL&P’s monthly transmission charges increasing by $7.12 for an average household beginning Jan. 1 – an increase that affects 1.2 million CL&P customers statewide, including those in Bethany, Beacon Falls, and Naugatuck.

Connecticut's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) Wednesday issued a final ruling that increased CL&P’s monthly charges for transmission services; earlier this year, PURA approved a separate CL&P electric rate hike for generation services, from 9.96 cents per kilowatt hour to 12.63
cents per kilowatt hour beginning Jan. 1 and continuing through June 2015, adding an additional $18.50 per month to the average homeowner’s electric bill.

While PURA did reduce CL&P’s requested rate hikes by hundreds of millions of dollars, the combined effect of the new CL&P rates will be difficult for homeowners and businesses to manage, Crisco said.

The total impact of all the approved CL&P changes will add about $25.60 a month – about $307 a year -- to the average homeowner’s monthly electric bill.

“CL&P should be playing Santa but they’re playing Scrooge instead,” Crisco said. “At a time when many families are still struggling to emerge from the global recession, are looking to pay off holiday credit card bills, and are trying to save money on their electric bills by instituting energy-saving initiatives, all of that has gone out the window with these recent rate hikes. I encourage CL&P customers to shop elsewhere for their power and to hold CL&P’s feet to the fire regarding their promised system improvements.”


This is a press release from Crisco's office.