Last week, I reported that Eversource’s CEO told investors the company “shut the faucet off in Connecticut” until the state paid up for storm costs. Senate leaders were upset and asked what got cut. The governor said on WFSB that Eversource can’t do that. I didn’t see a list of what they cut so I read Eversource’s annual report.
On page 37 there’s a table that splits grid spending into buckets. One is called Aging Infrastructure, which is the cash used to replace old lines and substations before they fail.
Back in 2023, Eversource put $260.7M into that bucket in Connecticut. But last year, it was just $132.5M. In Massachusetts, they got a big increase from $310M to $403.6M. If you looked at spend per customer on that bucket 2 years ago, the states were about even (about $200 each).
Now Eversource spends about $100 per customer in Connecticut and about $249 in Massachusetts. And you could argue that Connecticut needs it more, with more miles of overhead wires than Massachusetts.
Eversource said in 2024 that it would cut spending here because they were pissed at our regulators. They said these cuts would probably hit reliability. The company did what it said.
The company told WFSB this week that outages are shorter and less frequent now. But its own reliability report says outages got longer in 2024 and again in 2025. I can’t prove that the cut caused that, there’s no filing that said that. But I did ask.
I sent Eversource 7 questions on Tuesday and didn’t get a response.
But they did email me on Wednesday. But it was them sending me my bill. It’s worth reminding you that this regulated monopoly in our state is asking for $451M more a year from customers.
Somebody with more leverage than me is asking now. On Thursday the state’s Office of Consumer Counsel, essentially the customers’ lawyer, filed formal questions that Eversource is required to answer by Oct. 22.
It’s asking for the spending to be broken out and wants to know how the parent company decides which of its utilities (which states) get the money. (I sent that office these numbers on Tuesday. It was filed on Thursday.)
The public hearings on the rate case will start on Nov. 9 in New Britain. Eversource’s CEO told investors the noise would die down after the election.
I don’t think that will be the case.