Press Releases
07/29/2026
Attorney General William Tong Responds to Final PURA Decision on Eversource Storm Cost Recovery
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today responded to a final decision by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) approving approximately $861 million in deferred storm costs for Eversource while rejecting the company’s attempt to charge ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars in retrospective carrying charges.
“This is an important victory for Connecticut ratepayers. PURA has rejected Eversource’s attempt to make Connecticut families pay millions of dollars in interest payments on unvetted and unapproved costs. We will continue to scrutinize every dollar Eversource requests from ratepayers, including in its upcoming rate case, to ensure ratepayers do not have to pay a penny more than they absolutely have to,” said Attorney General Tong.
In their June 2026 draft decision, PURA approved $933 million in storm costs and rejected Eversource’s attempt to make Connecticut ratepayers shoulder over $300 million in unjustified interest that accumulated while the case was under review. In their final decision, PURA approved approximately $861 million. The final approved amount will be further reduced by approximately $91 million already paid by customers for storms, $2.1 million in mutual aid revenue, and $100 million in a ratepayer funded credit authorized in an April 22, 2026, decision. The total to be collected from customers will be $668 million plus applicable going forward carrying charges. PURA disallowed retrospective carrying charges, consistent with the State’s arguments and made further reductions to the underlying storm costs.
On December 15, 2025, Eversource sought PURA approval to recover almost $1 billion in projected storm costs for a series of catastrophic storms occurring between 2018 and 2023, as well as over $300 million in interest payments associated with those costs. Attorney General Tong had argued that Eversource’s demand for unvetted and unapproved carrying costs was premature, unprecedented and should be rejected.
PURA precedent has held that storm cost interest payments are not authorized until costs have been vetted and deemed prudent. Eversource repeatedly chose to delay that scrutiny over many years. The Office of Consumer Counsel and others had raised a series of questions regarding costs associated with external contractors, improper storms included for recovery, pre-staging costs, inadequate documentation, misapplication of mileage standards, among other concerns. Rather than promptly addressing those questions, Eversource expressed outrage at the process and filed 74 motions for extensions of time to respond to discovery requests-- totaling more than 1,000 days of delay.
Assistant Attorneys General Caroline McCormack and John Wright and Deputy Associate Attorney General Michael Wertheimer are assisting the Attorney General in this matter.
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