Let’s overhaul infrastructure
A global pandemic. A crashing of the electrical grid. People unable to leave their homes with trees blocking driveways, live wires dangling perilously across roads. Towns without power for more than a week. Others with power but no internet or phone service. Some homes without running water and supplies running low. High heat and no air-conditioning. Elderly isolated at home. This is not a science fiction movie. It’s our new reality.
The aftermath of Tropical Storm Isaias, just like the COVID pandemic, exposed the longstanding fragility and failures of our infrastructure systems. Infrastructure is not just our roads and rails, about which I’ve written extensively. It is also the systems that supply our power, water and connectivity. These systems are critical to our personal and economic well-being and the events of this past week were a wake-up call. Being rendered powerless, literally and figuratively, demonstrated that our utilities infrastructure is our Achilles’ heel. We need to redesign how utilities are regulated so our essential public resources — power, water, phone and WiFi — are affordable, resilient and accessible at all times.
As Democratic legislators, we are already working on a “Take Back the Grid Act” because we need more than an investigation, we need a new approach to utilities. We need to replace the privatized monopoly of power and water called Eversource/Aquarion with a system that creates direct accountability to customers. Just before the storm, Eversource increased customers’ bills significantly. And according to their recent SEC filing, they plan to do that again — to charge customers for the costs incurred from this storm rather than absorb them and allow a “material impact” to their bottom line. I believe that is gross negligence. We cannot allow Eversource to push the price of their failure of duty onto the people and economy of Connecticut.
Since 2016, Eversource has used $368 million of Connecticut taxpayer dollars to prepare for storms. Did we receive a reasonable return on that investment? Certainly not. In fact, Connecticut residents are paying the price of Eversource’s epic failure in a myriad of ways, including millions in lost business. The Department of Energy estimates that power outages cost the U.S. economy $150 billion
This moment can be a catalyst for real change. As scientists have predicted for years, severe weather events will only become more frequent and severe. Now is the time for action — a new approach to infrastructure that ensures consumers are prioritized over shareholders and CEOs.
annually, a cost that will increase to $1.5-3.4 trillion by 2050. The “material impact” of the business interruption for Connecticut residents was evident as more than 700,000 homes lost WiFi and cell service for days. People stood in parking lots and on street corners desperate to find a signal. We may never know exactly how much revenue was lost in Connecticut in a week without power. But we do know much of it could have been prevented if Eversource had followed best practices.
Years ago, when the legislature allowed the utilities to be deregulated, they were promised more competition and lower rates for customers. In fact, we ended up with almost no competition and consumers at the mercy of a monopoly. Eversource is a public company that maximizes shareholder value by cutting costs and passing them onto customers. In the last 10 years, Eversource reduced operating expenses by slashing the number of line workers from 725 to 525. It paid dividends to shareholders rather than investing in preparedness.
Since 2012, the Eversource share price rose from $36 to $86. The CEO and management team are rewarded with princely sums for boosting shareholder value. According to the company’s 2020 proxy statement, the CEO received $19.8 million in compensation, including a $3,000,000 cash bonus for exceeding expectations on “safety, reliability and customer experience.” He also has a $51,000,000 golden parachute. To protect consumers, the legislature should enact laws that require lower rates, better service and more accountability for consumers. But to complicate matters, top-ranking Republican legislators in Connecticut (Senators Kevin Witkos, R-Canton, and John Kissel, R-Enfield) are employed by Eversource. Even if they recuse themselves from votes on regulation, they have the power to prevent such legislation from ever getting to a vote. This may sound like science fiction too. But it’s reality. And further proof that elected officials should not be employed by the businesses they’re charged with overseeing.
This moment can be a catalyst for real change. As scientists have predicted for years, severe weather events will only become more frequent and severe. Now is the time for action — a new approach to infrastructure that ensures consumers are prioritized over shareholders and CEOs. We must guarantee affordable access to critical resources such as power, water, internet and transportation. We can start by giving PURA more authority to regulate Eversource and require preparedness plans and the appropriate number of line workers (which creates new jobs). We should invest taxpayer dollars in improving infrastructure not by handing it over to Eversource, but with a system that creates direct accountability to taxpayers. A system similar to what I proposed in the legislature in 2019 and 2020 — a Connecticut State Infrastructure Bank (“SIB”) — which finances public infrastructure without privatizing it. A SIB is a revolving fund that leverages public dollars 9-1 to raise the billions needed to make our power grids resilient, our trains faster and our roads and bridges safer. A SIB answers directly to its owners — the citizens of the state. And delivers demonstrable results on taxpayer investment with full transparency and direct accountability.
Let’s use this crisis to do more than convene another panel. Let’s use it as an opportunity to design a smarter system that serves the people of this state.