Press Releases
08/25/2023
Attorney General Tong Releases Statement on Public Utilities Regulatory Authority Approval of Final Decision on United Illuminating Rate Hike
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong released the following statement following the final decision by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) rejecting all but $23 million of a bloated and unsupported $130.7 million rate hike sought by United Illuminating (UI). The approved final decision represents an approximate 6.6 percent increase in rates compared to UI’s proposed 35 percent increase.
“This has been a thorough, tough, and fair process since day one, now producing a strong, pro-ratepayer final decision. PURA was right to see through the company’s attempts to distract from the sound reasoning of the decision and to rely on the clear record in this proceeding—United Illuminating sought a bloated, unsupported $130.7 million rate hike, padded with exorbitant guaranteed profits. UI never proved their case,” said Attorney General Tong.
Attorney General Tong welcomed PURA’s decision to impose a $2 million annual penalty he sought for the company’s ongoing failure to remediate the former English Station power plant in New Haven.
“United Illuminating has utterly refused to meet its commitments to remediate English Station. United Illuminating can stop this annual penalty at any time by getting serious about their clear obligations under the law. And if a $2 million annual penalty isn’t enough to convince United Illuminating of their legal obligations, I will continue to do everything in my power to compel the company to clean-up English Station and honor their commitments to the New Haven community and the state of Connecticut,” said Attorney General Tong.
Attorney General Tong also praised UI employees, including the line workers tasked with maintaining and restoring power across the state.
“My fight for ratepayers includes the dedicated workers of UI and their families, and I am grateful to each and every one of them who keep Connecticut powered every day and jump into action – often in difficult conditions – to restore power to our homes and businesses,” Attorney General Tong said.
Assistant Attorneys General John Wright and Lori DiBella, Michael Wertheimer, Deputy Associate Attorney General & Chief of the Consumer Protection Section, Matthew Levine, Deputy Associate Attorney General & Chief of the Environment Section, Lauren Bidra, Special Counsel for Media and Technology, and Associate Attorney General Jeremy Pearlman assisted the Attorney General in this matter.
Click
here for Attorney General Tong’s initial brief in this case.
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