NEW BRITAIN — Connecticut Consumer Counsel has reached a settlement agreement with Eversource Energy that will reduce the size of the distribution rate increase the Hartford-based utility company is seeking.
Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz said the agreement, which was filed with the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Thursday, reduces the the amount of additional revenue the company was seeking over a three year period by $182.4 million. The settlement also includes a 60 percent reduction in what the utility had been seeking in the first year of that three-year-period.
The new rates will take effect May 1, subject to review and approval by PURA. Under the terms of the agreement, the distribution rates of customers bills will increase by 6.57 percent in the first year, 1.27 percent in the second year and 0.98 percent in the third.
Mitch Gross, a spokesman for Eversource, said the company can’t say how much more money the average customer will have to pay based on the increases agreed to in the settlement.
“PURA still has to certify the increases across all of the rate classes,” Gross said. “And we have 20 different categories.”
Gross said while Eversource made several concessions to its original application, which was filed at the end of October.
“We believe this is a fair settlement that reduces the increase for customers while allowing us to expand our investments in the electric system to provide safe and reliable service,” he said.
“It’s important to note that this settlement reflects savings from the recent change to the federal tax law that we’re pleased to pass along to customers,” he said.
The Office of Consumer Counsel represents ratepayer in utility rate cases and Katz said that “whenever there is an application for a rate hike, many consumers immediately worry.”
“We have worked very hard to reduce the bill impacts,” she said in a statement. “Our goal is to ensure a high-quality electric distribution system that meets consumers’ needs as cost-effectively as possible.”
Eversource had proposed an increase in revenues of $255.8 million for the first rate year, which would have represented a 6.57 increase over currently authorized overall revenues. The settlement with the utility calls for an increase in revenues of $97.1 million for the first rate year, or roughly a 2.47 percentincrease over currently authorized overall revenues.
Katz said the Eversource application included the recovery of $700 million in recent investments to improve the reliability and safety of Eversource’s distribution network. Officials with the OCC and PURA have verified the amount that has been invested, she said, adding that some level of rate increase is warranted given the size of the investment.
PURA has scheduled four evening hearings in New Britain, Stamford, Branford, and New London, at which Eversource customers may provide public comment on the settlement agreement. The hearing in Branford is scheduled for Jan. 31 at the Fire Department headquarters at 45 North Main St.
A decision in rate case is scheduled for mid-April.
Eversource serves approximately 1.2 million electric customers within the 149 cities and towns in its Connecticut service territory.
luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com