As $1 rebates ‘insulting’ to utility customers, more money on way
As Connecticut utility customers began receiving what some called “insulting” initial rebates after losing power from Tropical Storm Isaias, the state has reached an agreement to increase the payouts.
For some customers, the initial payout amounted to less than $1.
Ben Adams was one of those customers. He lost power for two days after Tropical Storm Isaias made landfall last year.
“I believe we lost power for two days, it may have been three,” he said. “We experienced multiple outages due to storms this summer, so it’s a little hazy which was which.”
Adams did not have a generator at his Vernon home. Nor did he and his family escape to a hotel.
“We just dealt with being without power,” he said. “Sadly, our plumbing relied on electricity to drain, so without power, we couldn't shower, so we had to go elsewhere to do so.”
Last week, Adams received his share of a penalty, imposed in July by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on the state’s two power companies for failing to comply with performance standards as set by Connecticut law.
Eversource was initially fined $28.58 million and the far smaller United Illuminating was penalized $1.2 million. The vast majority of the money is supposed to go back to customers.
Adams’ share? Fifty-eight cents. “The negligible ‘rebate’ is hardly a punishment to them, and is just insulting to the consumer,” he said.
Josh Huck, of Woodstock, got somewhat more than Adams. Huck lost power for three days during Isaias and received a rebate of $2.23 last month.
“Two dollars for three days,” he said. But Huck’s power bill is also somewhat more than what Adams pays.
“Our average bill is $400 to $650, depending on time of year and usage and all that kind of stuff,” said Huck, who has a generator.
“The propane we used, I probably spent $290 to $300 on propane,” Huck said.
But Adams and Huck can soon expect to receive a bit more of a credit under a deal announced Friday.
Gov. Ned Lamont and Attorney General William Tong announced Eversource would return a total of $65 million to customers, who will each receive $35 in two payments.
In exchange, Eversource has agreed to not appeal the $28.4 million PURA has required the company to pay customers. Eversource is also required to create a Connecticut-based president of Connecticut Light & Power.
The new credits will be in addition to the initial payouts Adams, Huck and others have been receiving — an average of $1 credit for every residential customer each month through August 2022.
“As of Sept. 1, we began paying the Isaias penalty of $28.4 million,” Eversource spokesperson Frank Poirot said. “This is not a refund, but a credit that is spread across all customers.”
The amount each customer can expect to receive from the initial fine payouts is dependent on several factors.
“The amount varies based on the customers’ rate category,” Poirot said, and some of those payments will be prorated. “If there are August days on the bill, no credit applied then.”
A United Illuminating spokesperson did not return a request for comment.
Though Isaias was a tropical storm when it reached Connecticut in August 2020, the state was hit particularly hard. More than 700,000 customers lost power, including more than two-thirds of those in Litchfield County.
After a months-long investigation, PURA ruled in July 2021 that Eversource and United Illuminating had mismanaged the storm response in several ways.
PURA determined that Eversource “unreasonably failed to appropriately classify the emergency event,” didn’t appropriately update that declaration and “mismanaged its communications related to the storm event level classification with relevant stakeholders to those stakeholders’ express detriment.”
The regulatory agency said the power company failed “to adequately secure, pre-stage and deploy sufficient line crews during the first 48 hours of storm response,” and did not “deploy an adequate number of damage assessors within the first 48 hours following the storm event.”
PURA also found fault with United Illuminating, specifically saying the power company’s “performance resulted in unreasonable delays in responding to priority safety events.”
“Eversource failed its customers and put Connecticut families at risk,” Tong said in July after PURA handed down its penalties “Their response to Tropical Storm Isaias was unacceptable, and PURA is right to impose severe penalties. This penalty will be paid rightfully by the company and its shareholders — not ratepayers.”
The civil penalty against Eversource totaled $28,583,022, of which $28,405,022 the company “shall return in the form of credits to ratepayers of Eversource,” PURA said. The remaining $178,000 fine, imposed specifically for accident reporting violations,” was paid to the state treasurer.
United Illuminating’s total penalty was $1,248,647, of which $1,187,647 the company “shall return in the form of credits to ratepayers of UI,” PURA wrote, with an additional $61,000 going to the state.
Neither penalty was to to be included as an operating expense “for purposes of ratemaking,” PURA said.
“Time and time again, our employees work tirelessly to restore power as quickly as possible and support our customers and communities when outages occur,” Eversource spokesperson Mitch Gross told Reuters in July. “Our focus now is on the future