Eversource bills to rise dramatically in July

Eversource Energy customers will see their bills increase dramatically on July 1, thanks to a rate adjustment mechanism approved last week by Connecticut utility regulators.

Eversource’s standard service customers, who let the utility purchase the electricity they use, will see their bills increase by about $13 per month, according to Tricia Modifica. But customers who get their electricity from third-party suppliers will see their bills increase by $48 per month, Modifica said.

The increases are based on residential customers who use 700 kilowatt hours per month, she said. The increases are the result of an adjustment by the electric companies to customer bills to pay for state mandates and approved programs being passed on to consumers.

The dramatic difference in the size of the increases is due the expected decline in electric rates that standard service customers are expected to see starting July 1 and continuing through the end of the year, Modifica said.

“This rate increase is almost entirely within the ‘Public Benefits’ portion of all customer bills,” she said. “Customers on the Standard Service rate will see less of an increase because it will be partially offset by an expected reduction of the Standard Service energy supply rate, also taking effect on July 1.”

United Illuminating Co. customers can expect an increase of about $30, according to Sarah Fliotsos, spokeswoman for the Orange-based utility. Fliotsos said Wednesday that figure was an average calculated across all of the utility’s rate classes.

The standard service offer rates, which are measured in cents per kilowatt hour, are still being determined by the utilities, and the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.

PURA’s three commissioners voted 2-1 on April 17 to approve the rate adjustment mechanism. Marissa Gillett, the regulatory agency’s chairwoman, cast the only dissenting vote. In a statement issued after the vote, she said she was “disappointed” by the decision.

“This decision could have struck a fair balance by allowing the recovery of this substantial liability over a period of two-tothree years, rather than just 10 months,” Gillett’s statement said in part. “This would provide timely recovery for the utilities and reduce the rate shock for ratepayers. Instead, customers will bear the brunt of this extraordinary volatility and anomalous conditions over the course of an unreasonably short period of time given the magnitude of costs at stake.”

The Revenue Adjustment Mechanism is an annual filing the electric distribution companies are required to submit to show the costs they expect to outlay over the upcoming year to pay for the public policy programs they are required to implement, according to Fliotsos. She said the revenue adjustment mechanism represents a pass-through of the costs to pay for these programs, with no markup and no profit.

Connecticut already has among the highest electricity bills in the country, so any increase, even a pass-through, will have an affect on customers.

Eversource Energy/Contributed photo Eversource Energy line crews make improvements to the company’s distribution network in Waterbury. The company’s electric rates are expected to increase dramatically on July 1.