The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Eversource reports record profits
Gain comes as many Connecticut customers absorb higher electric bills
As Connecticut customers absorb higher electric bills this winter, transmission and distribution utility Eversource reported record profits in excess of $1.4 billion for 2022.
Eversource is one of two major electric utilities in Connecticut alongside the United Illuminating subsidiary of Avangrid. Eversource also provides service in portions of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In addition to its electricity business, Eversource provides natural gas and water services in Connecticut.
In all three states, electricity prices have spiked in tandem with the price of natural gas, which fuels roughly half of the electricity produced by New England power plants. Late last year, Eversource agreed to contribute $10 million to help defray energy costs for qualifying households seeking assistance.
That still left Eversource with a $184 million cushion above its profits in 2021, when earnings were reduced by a settlement with Connecticut over its preparation and response to Tropical Storm Isaias the prior year.
Eversource reported earnings Monday afternoon in advance of a Tuesday hearing by the Energy and Technology Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly on utility affordability. Avangrid is scheduled to release its results next week.
On a Tuesday conference call, CEO Joe Nolan Jr. acknowledged extra scrutiny by Connecticut officials while describing as “transparent” Eversource’s revenue and costs from its electric transmission and distribution infrastructure. Nolan noted New Englanders have gotten a big break this winter
with seasonally mild temperatures. That has helped cut furnace and heat pump use while reducing the cost of natural gas used by power plants.
Even as Eversource rates and profits go up, the company has been increasing investment in its infrastructure as well. The utility plans to spend nearly $500 million more this year on the lines that deliver power to homes and businesses, a 36 percent increase over its 2022 total that includes the impact of inflation.
But that is not appeasing customers who have been venting since January bills arrived, with one Massachusetts customer complaining this week on Eversource's Facebook page that the monthly bill jumped from below $200 to over $500.
The company anticipates construction starting later this year on the offshore Revolution Wind farm that represents a major new source of renewable power for Connecticut at just over 700 megawatts of capacity, though Eversource indicated Monday that it still plans to sell its 50 percent stake in the project in partnership with Orsted, anticipating a deal this year.
Last year in Provincetown, Mass., Eversource completed a battery array to store electricity to boost the grid as needed during power outages for some 11,000 customers there. Eversource seeks to move ahead with similar projects in Connecticut. And in Framingham, Mass., Eversource is experimenting with a “networked geothermal” project, circulating fluid underground to capture warmer or cooler temperatures for climate control of homes and businesses, with the possibility of a larger investment elsewhere in its territory if the returns are positive.
“We have a significant amount of renewable energy that is waiting to come online, and that is going to be a game changer,” Nolan said. “I do feel confident that we are on the precipice of some exciting opportunities that will drive down costs for our customers . ... It can't happen fast enough, as far as I am concerned.”