Connecticut Spent $155 Million to Lower Electric Bills. Mine Went Up.
The relief landed. Eversource passed the volatility straight through.
I’m 38, live in Cos Cob and have 3 kids. I just got my January electric bill. It was $518.44
In August, the state approved a plan to borrow $155M to lower the “Public Benefits” charge on our bills. This charge covers energy programs and past policy costs. The promise was around $9-10 off each monthly bill. The relief started showing up in the fall. My Public Benefits line this month was $79+, about $9 lower than it was before the bond plan started.
My total bill still went up.
Then I got to the line that actually decides what you pay. It’s the part of the bill the state didn’t touch.
That’s called the standard supply rate and it moves with energy prices.
Supply prices are set by the market. How customers are exposed to those swings depends on how Eversource runs their business.
Eversource raised supply rates to 12.64 cents per kWh on January 1, up from around 9.75 cents over the summer, roughly a 30% jump tied to winter energy prices.
And for customers like me, using more energy in the winter, this jump wiped out the “relief” and more.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Connecticut, customers of United Illuminating saw their bills drop by around 4% this winter. Their supply rate went up (to 13.70¢/kWh) but their rates didn’t spike the way Eversource’s did, so customers didn’t feel the same hit.
Eversource is facing the same regional pressures as United Illuminating. Yet it’s Eversource customers who keep getting the biggest bill increases.
In November, PURA (the regulator), cut Yankee Gas’s (part of Eversource) profit margin. They don’t do that lightly. They did it because of “performance and management issues.” They’re saying Eversource has a management problem.
When costs rise, customers absorb it. But when relief comes, it lands somewhere else. This pisses me off. Because we, the customers, end up paying for it.
If a relief plan can’t survive contact with a utility bill, it’s not relief.
The state borrowed $155M to save around $9 a month on one little line on our monthly bills. It never touches the part of the bill that swings. Eversource’s supply rates rose anyway which wiped out the savings immediately.
We’re now taking out a 20 year loan to pay for electricity we used last year. This doesn’t protect us from market volatility or lower future bills. It smooths over spikes in a world where Eversource controls most of the outcome.
When prices rise, Eversource passes them straight through and calls it normal.
I’m not an energy expert. I looked into this closer because no one was explaining it clearly. It didn’t make sense. Once you look closer, it still doesn’t add up.
I’m going to keep following this topic and tracking how Eversource’s moves show up on our bills.
If you saw something similar on your bill, send it. Maybe there’s a pattern. Let’s compare receipts.