Residents question rising energy bills after public benefit charges

(WFSB) – Hundreds of viewers emailed the I-Team asking them to pay attention to rising electric bills.

Almost all of the emails we received contained questions about fees for public benefits.

This fee has been around for years, but now people are paying attention to it because they are paying almost 5 times more per kilowatt-hour than they were a few months ago.

The I-Team set up a microphone in Hartford asking people to tell us about their electric bills, and below are some of the responses:

– Well, it’s too expensive.

“The bill is big.”

“I actually didn’t use any more energy than I did the month before, and it was more than double.”

“It was almost 100 percent growth, so it’s crazy. This is crazy.”

It is normal for electricity bills to rise in July as people use more electricity to run their air conditioners, but there was another reason why bills increased in July this year. The amount Eversource customers are charged per kilowatt-hour on the public utility portion of their bill has increased by 490%. Eversource estimates that this means that for the average customer, the share of public benefits has increased from $12 to $59 per month.

Eversource Connecticut President Steve Sullivan explains, “What we’re doing on this part is exactly recouping our costs.”

When lawmakers create programs that require Eversource to spend money, the law requires customers to pay Eversource back for those programs through a public benefit levy. Eversource says it has been underpaid for years.

One reason has to do with what happened during the pandemic, when lawmakers said Eversource couldn’t shut off a customer’s power. Over four years, overdue debt almost tripled, from $101 million to $274 million.

“They just built it up and built it up and built it up until we finally forced the issue and said you have to pay off these debts,” Sullivan said.

The I-Team wanted to know if other states were forcing customers to pay other people’s bills, so we asked electric regulators in all 50 states. Of the 23 states that responded by the deadline, most said they had something similar to Connecticut. Eight states do not have a mechanism to allow taxpayers to pay other customers’ overdue bills. For example, in Kansas, such fees were found to be unfair and discriminatory. In West Virginia, instead of asking customers to pay the bill, utilities receive a tax credit to make up the difference. In Florida, financial assistance programs are paid for by nonprofit organizations or social service agencies.

Pandemic debt is something a lot of people wanted to talk about when they came to our microphone.

“I think it’s unfair that we have to pay for other people who couldn’t pay during Covid,” said Edida Cooney of West Hartford.

“If someone doesn’t pay their electricity bill, why should I pay for it?” said Stephen from Torrington.

Eversource says unpaid bills account for about 20% of the increase in state benefit rates. Eversource says nearly 70% of the increase will go toward paying for the government contract with the Millstone nuclear power plant. In 2019, state Republicans moved to purchase power from the plant to keep it running. The contract requires Eversource to purchase energy from Millstone at a price that is currently higher than the market price. Clients must then make up the difference by paying government benefits.

State Sen. Ryan Fazio is the ranking Republican on the Energy Committee and supports Millstone’s decision.

“I think most serious energy analysts on both sides of the aisle understand that nuclear power plants like Millstone, which are carbon-free, reliable and the cheapest form of zero-carbon energy, must remain on the grid as we see increasing demand for electricity.” , said Fazio. .

Sen. Norm Needleman, a Democrat, co-chairs the Energy Committee. The representative told us he couldn’t talk to us about the topic, so we sat down with House co-chairman Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, also a Democrat.

Steinberg voted for the Millstone contract.

“If we had allowed Millstone to close, we would be in a much worse state today, and we would be talking about a different kind of crisis: Can you trust that your lights will come on when you flip the switch?” Steinberg said.

The current increase in state benefits will last through May, and if all state programs remain the same, Sullivan predicts the amount on your bill will decrease.

“Prior to the first of July, the rate was artificially low, but as we’re paying off that past balance, it’s now artificially high, and realistically it’s probably going to fall somewhere in the middle,” Sullivan said.

However, that could change depending on what happens this legislative session.

State Republicans have proposed moving many of the programs currently funded by state entitlements into the regular budget process. The money would then come from the general fund and be paid for with tax dollars.

“We should not be raising energy costs when they are already high in the state to fund these government programs,” Fazio said.

Steinberg doesn’t support this idea.

“You can decide where you choose to pay for it, but if you believe in something worthwhile, does it matter more?” Steinberg said

Steinberg says Connecticut needs to spend more money, not less, to invest in renewable energy sources like solar and wind power.

“This is really necessary for Connecticut if we want to remain economically competitive and if we want to maintain our quality of life,” Steinberg said.

While it’s often said that you should turn off your lights to lower your electric bills, the amount you’ll end up paying each month will also depend on who controls the lights in Hartford.

Starting in September, there was another increase in fees for state benefits. Eversource estimates that the average customer pays about $3 more per month for its EV charger rebate program. The I-Team takes a closer look at the program in Part 2 of the series, airing Thursday, Nov. 7.