Governor Ned Lamont wants Connecticut residents to have more energy options. His state currently has the highest electric bills in the continental U.S.
This comes as utility company Eversource reports record high earnings. New rates for the company raised consumers' bills by up to 42% since 2022. United Illuminating, the state's other major utility supplier, charged customers up to 38% more this year.
Lamont has proposed a bill that will allow the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the General Assembly’s Environment Committee to look into energy alternatives.
The bill would spare them from having to go through the standard electricity market process to explore other options.
DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes told legislators the war in Ukraine has sped up the states' need to scale back on fossil fuel reliance. She said it has put Connecticut in a position that other states are not in.
“The best option is to actually expedite steps towards energy independence, to help insulate our state and our region from these geopolitical events, which we have been historically uniquely exposed to in comparison to other states in the U.S., because we have for so long been importing fossil fuels into our region to keep our grid reliable,” Dykes said.
Dykes said the state needs to move quickly to secure federal funding for renewable energy infrastructure.
“The other reason to expedite this move towards energy independence is because of the unique opportunity that we have to compete for federal funding,” Dykes said. “The faster that we can move towards advancing projects and applications to our federal partners, the greater chance that we have to secure, you know, lower costs, or to reduce the cost to ratepayers in New England and to Connecticut, for those energy resources.”
