Connecticut officials are concerned about a proposal to privatize the state’s second-largest utility and want the Public Utility Regulatory Authority to scrutinize the deal.
“Something smells here, and PURA ought to get to the bottom of it,” U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said.
He said the pending purchase of Avangrid’s outstanding shares by Iberdrola, its Spanish parent company, would make the utility less accountable to ratepayers.
Attorney General William Tong said the move could violate the company’s agreement to clean up English Station, a decommissioned coal-fired power plant in New Haven, and maintain local control.
“If they are not going to honor their obligations to English Station and their obligation to provide local control, who is?” Tong asked at a media briefing in his office on Friday.
“Avangrid would be able to take its profits out of the country with no benefit to anyone in Connecticut or the broader U.S. economy," state Consumer Advocate Claire Coleman said.
Tong also said he had received a letter from a union representing some Avangrid workers expressing other concerns about the company.
A correction was made to the last sentence of this story to attribute where union concerns came from.
