Report by Paula Antolini, July 28, 2020, 4:21PM EDT
Standard Service Electric Rates Approved For The First-Half Of 2020, Eversource Electric Rates Increase 15.8% and United Illuminating 26.4%.
Are rates going up? CT House Democrats are calling for legislative hearings into sudden hikes in Eversource CT electric bills this month.
Yesterday Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano (R-North Haven) was joining calls for lawmakers to hold a legislative hearing on the sudden spike in Eversource electric bills.
Senator Len Fasano stated, “Eversource always has an excuse to raise rates. They raise them when we use a lot of electricity, when we conserve energy, when there are storms, when there are tree clearings, and the list goes on. At the same time Eversource is making ridiculous suggestions like unplug everything and raise the temperature in your home. That is an unacceptable response. The public deserves better.”
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UI’s standard service generation rate will increase by approximately 26.4% from its current rate of 8.353 cents per kwh to 10.56 cents per kWh. For the average Eversource residential customer on standard service that uses 750 kilowatt hours a month, the change will mean a monthly bill increase of $9.65.
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Eversource states:
Electric generation rates have been approved by the Public Utility Regulatory Authority for Connecticut’s electric distribution companies, Eversource (dba Connecticut Light and Power) and United Illuminating (UI) for standard service effective January 1, 2020 through June 30, 2020. The new rates were approved by PURA based on auctions for power that concluded in mid-October.
On January 1, 2020, Eversouce’s standard service generation rate will be increasing from their current 8.123¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) to 9.41 cents per kWh, an increase of 15.8%. UI’s standard service generation rate will increase by approximately 26.4% from its current rate of
8.353 cents per kwh to 10.56 cents per kWh.
For the average Eversource residential customer on standard service that uses 750 kilowatt hours a month, the change will mean a monthly bill increase of $9.65. UI residential customers on standard service will see a bill increase of about $16.55 per month.
While these increases in generation rates are substantial, rates approved for the first six months of 2020 are about 0.70 cents per kwh lower than they were for the first half of 2019.
The increase of rates for the period containing the winter months is the new norm for the Connecticut energy market as the generation prices are heavily influenced by the strained gas supply due to winter heating.
For most residential customers electric supply charges comprise about 40% of the monthly bill. Other bill components include charges for distribution, transmission, conservation and load management programs, renewable energy project development, and other items.
The electric distribution companies’ standard service generation plans are the State’s default plans from which customers have the ability to switch to competitive supply options. A list of supplier options is available at http://www.energizect.com/compare-energysuppliers/compare-supplier-options. As always, customers who are considering going on
competitive supply should carefully review price, terms, length of contract, enrollment and early termination fees when comparing options. Additionally customers should be extremely careful before entering a contract with a tiered rate that offers a lower price for an initial
period and then locks customers into higher rates for an additional period.
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