Connecticut Attorney General's Office

Press Release

Attorney General To Fight Proposed $210 Million CL&P Rate Increase Erasing 5 Percent Decrease

January 8, 2010

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said today he will fight Connecticut Light & Power's proposed 5 percent rate hike that the company wants to phase in to erase a comparable rate decrease early next year.

Rates are set to fall about 5 percent at the beginning of 2011 because ratepayers will have largely finished paying off bonds related to deregulation. CL&P's rate increase would be about the same size, erasing that decrease.

CL&P's request comes shortly after its rates fell 5.2 percent largely because of policies enacted at the attorney general's urging.

"I will fight this ill-timed, ill-conceived rate increase, clobbering consumers as they struggle to make ends meet," Blumenthal said. "Message to CL&P: We're still in recession, and we already have among the highest electricity rates in the nation. Consumers coping with job losses and stagnant wages desperately need lower power prices. CL&P must do what its customers are doing: tighten its belt.

"CL&P's rate hike would be backbreaking for small businesses -- the engine of job creation -- as well as consumers. I will battle this rate increase, preserving a long overdue rate decrease that consumers expect and deserve."