Democratic Officials Oppose New Rate Hike Request by Yankee Gas

By Joe O’Leary

November 19 @ 9:00 am

Another salvo in Connecticut’s battle over rising utility costs was recently fired as Yankee Gas, a natural gas company and Eversource subsidiary, filed for a rate hike that would include a 43% increase in costs for thousands of customers who heat their homes with natural gas.

Amid a tightening regulatory environment in the Nutmeg State and increased eyes on utilities — none more so than Eversource after summer electric bills spiked — the proposal was met with little support from public officials.

Attorney General William Tong was one of the first to issue a statement responding to the request, noting that families were already facing high energy costs and can’t afford another increase.

“This is yet another tone-deaf slap in the face from our out-of-touch public utilities,” Tong said. “You don’t have to be a lawyer to see some basic obvious overreach in this filing. They’re asking for profits that are completely out of whack with other public utilities, including tacking on a non-starter ‘regulatory risk premium’ to account for the fact that our public utilities don’t like oversight and accountability.”

Tong’s comments reflect similar sentiments from Connecticut energy officials, who decried state utilities’ poor service, especially after the damage caused by Tropical Storm Isaias in 2020, when storm cleanup in some neighborhoods took more than a week. The company was fined $29 million in 2021 in response to its shortcomings in response to the storm.

Isaias served as a turning point for Connecticut’s approach to energy regulations, too. Since 2020, the Take Back Our Grid Act and 2023’s Senate Bill 7 worked to support ratepayers by providing more options for restitution in the event of bad storm response.

The policies also imposed “performance-based regulations” in the state, where companies’ performances are graded and their regulatory outlook changed based on how they treat customers.

In a statement, Eversource said it was pursuing a performance-based regulatory plan to prevent cost increases. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal called Eversource’s “astronomical” rate increase a “cruel joke” and called on state regulators to reject it.

Last month, leaders of the Energy and Technology Committee stressed their commitment to using the legislative process to ensure that Connecticut utility companies are held accountable for their rate requests.