To all signers;
Thank you again for being a part of this movement. I am forwarding you an email sent to complain about the outrageous cost of our electric bill. This email is lengthly for sure. I wanted you to be aware of their response.
I am forwarding this update so you stay involved. Bottom line is these programs are "The Law" and voted by our Represenatives and Ned Lamont signing it into law.
We are going to fight this injustice! Please keep sharing this petition. Over 500 signatures in 48 hours. Its just the beginning!
Thank you, Scott
From: "McCartin, Sarah" <Sarah.McCartin@ct.gov>
Date: July 30, 2024 at 12:24:36 PM EDT
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your inquiry related to public benefits.
The Public Benefits portion of your bill represents legally required charges that support energy-related public policy programs required by the General Assembly and thus by law. These are not optional. You cannot elect out of this portion of the bill.
The charges that make up the Public Benefits portion of your bill are also not new. Instead, increased transparency of the charges already included within the bill was mandated in the recently passed legislation Special Bill (SB) 23-102 that required the redesign of residential customers’ electric bills.
Public Benefits is made up of two basic line item components.
The FMCC Charge on this portion of the bill supports generation-related programs such as the Millstone power purchase contract, incentives paid for energy efficiency generation, and various renewable energy programs.
The Combined Public Benefit charges recover additional energy-related public policy costs to for Connecticut’s conservation and load management fund (energy efficiency), renewable energy fund, Operation Fuel, low-income loan programs, and programs designed to aid customers who face challenges paying their electric bill.
These are programs that benefit all rate payers.
This resource from the Office of the Consumer Counsel (OCC) may be helpful in explaining the elements of the electric bill and various rate components of the bill: Electricity
Your Connecticut Representative or Senator is the best contact regarding the legislation of public benefits programs, as these are determined by Connecticut State law.
PURA carries out the regulatory duty of reviewing rates related to this portion of the bill in an annual process called Revenue Adjustment Mechanism (RAM), as well as other dockets related to energy efficiency and renewable energy. RAM is an annual process to reconcile these costs as mandated by law. This year, due to delayed cost recovery as a result of the COVID pandemic, these rates or tariff have temporarily increased (through April 30th).
These rates are not permanent. They are also based on your household consumption. The best approach to limit impact is to conserve in the use of household electricity.
The most recent RAM filings by Eversource and UI are docketed before PURA as Docket No. 24-01-03 and Docket No. 24-01-04, respectively. These filings represents the requests of each electric utility and signify a rigorous public process during which PURA and its stakeholders thoroughly vet the requests, including through the issuance of discovery questions and evidentiary hearings. This process is meant to create transparency in rate making with the public.
The interim non-unanimous decisions by PURA and dissent by Chair Gillett from April 17, 2024, can be found here (Eversource and UI). Final decisions are issued in the Fall.
We are happy to provide further information on the RAM decisions as needed, provide additional information on legislative mandates, as well as provide information and ways to reduce your bill or get help to pay your bill.
You may find additional useful information here regarding your bill:
UI: https://www.uinet.com/understand-your-bill
Thank you,
Sarah (Sally) McCartin
Consumer Information Rep
Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority
10 Franklin Square, New Britain, CT 06051
p: 860-827-2735 | e: sarah.mccartin@ct.gov
ct.gov/pura
*Information collected by PURA staff may be used in furtherance of Complaint Investigation*