© 2024 WSHU
NPR News & Classical Music
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

PURA denies natural gas rate increase

Flames emerge from burners on a natural gas stove.
Steven Senne
/
AP
Flames emerge from burners on a natural gas stove.

Some Connecticut residents will soon pay less for energy after the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority rejected revenue increases for Avangrid

Connecticut Natural Gas and Southern Connecticut Gas, owned by Avangrid, sought multi-million dollar increases.

Instead, PURA’s final decision lowers CNG's revenue by $24 million, saving customers about seven dollars a month. Revenue for SCG was decreased by $11 million, saving their customers about four dollars a month.

This comes after an earnings report found CNG over-collected $8 million last year. About half was returned to customers, but the other half was distributed to shareholders.

Attorney General William Tong and other state offices submitted a petition to PURA seeking a hearing to lower rates.

"This is finally a bit of good news for Connecticut families desperately in need of relief from unaffordable energy costs," Tong said in a statement. "We’re going to keep combing through every single one of these rate cases in search of every last padded penny, and we’re going to keep fighting tooth and nail for Connecticut families at every single step of these proceedings."

State Senate Republicans had also called for a special session on the high cost of electricity this summer.

Yankees Gas, owned by Eversource, is separately seeking more than $200 million in increases. That would add about $46 monthly to the average customer’s bill.

Sabrina is host and producer of WSHU’s daily podcast After All Things. She also produces the climate podcast Higher Ground and other long-form news and music programs at the station. Sabrina spent two years as a WSHU fellow, working as a reporter and assisting with production of The Full Story.