Somewhere in Connecticut, a family is sitting at a kitchen table trying to figure out how to pay their electric bill. Maybe they didn’t turn the AC on despite this week’s high temperatures. They’re struggling, because Connecticut families pay some of the highest electricity bills in the entire country.
Yesterday, Eversource announced it wants to raise those bills even higher—$25 a month more, to be exact—and that may not even be the end of it.
I’ve been sitting with this, because there is a lot I want to say. So, here it is: the company asking you to pay more just posted $1.69 billion in profit last year. Its shareholders saw a 23% increase in their returns from the prior year. It ranks among the top electric utilities in the nation… not for customer satisfaction, not for affordability, but for shareholder returns. And after all of that, they came back and asked you for more.
Eversource seems to be claiming they’re losing money on Connecticut. Maybe their numbers are real, but when they simultaneously post $1.69 billion in profit and pay their CEO $13.5 million last year, it makes you wonder if they’re relying on a convenient, creative form of math.
Here’s what losing money doesn’t look like: the CEO of Eversource’s $13.5 million compensation last year reflected a 19% raise. The CEO is making 94 times what the average Eversource employee earns. In 1960, the CEO to average employee pay ratio was 20:1. And we’re asking everyday working people to subsidize the company even more?
Here’s what keeps me up at night. The average Connecticut worker who loses their job goes home and figures out how to survive. If Eversource’s CEO loses his job, the company writes him a check for $16 million. If he’s out of a job because the company gets sold, that check shoots up is $60 million. The people being asked to fund that safety net are the same families who don't have one.
It’s worth noting that unlike almost any other business in America, Eversource gets to charge customers directly for its maintenance and infrastructure costs, while also collecting a guaranteed profit on top. Shareholders carry almost no risk. Connecticut ratepayers carry it all.
To summarize what’s happening here, one of the most profitable utility companies in America, whose CEO earns 94 times the average worker and walks away with $60 million if the company is sold, is asking Connecticut families to dig deeper to help out their bottom line.
Now, I’ll be straight with you. The decision on this rate increase belongs to PURA, Connecticut’s independent utility regulator. That independence is real, and it’s important. It is their job, not mine, to say yes or no. However, I expect the PURA board to look at every one of these numbers and ask: does this serve Connecticut families, or does it serve Eversource shareholders?
What I can do, I am doing. The bet Connecticut made on nuclear energy years ago, even when it looked like the wrong call compared to natural gas, is paying off. Right now, instead of a public benefits surcharge on your bill, you’re seeing a credit. It’s not everything. But it’s real money back in your pocket, and our long-term perspective and careful hedging is paying off for you.
I will keep fighting to make energy more affordable for our residents. That means pursuing a diversified energy portfolio that includes renewable energy and the latest technology, making sure we don’t have all our eggs in one basket when there are macroeconomic factors (tariffs, a war in Iran) that are out of our control. I can only control what is in my purview, but I do so with the heavy knowledge that I answer to the people of this state, not to shareholders or utility executives, and that every dollar I fail to save them is a dollar they needed.
We are lucky to have Attorney General Wiliam Tong and Consumer Counsel Claire Coleman in our corner. This administration will not let our residents be taken advantage of without a fight. And PURA, I trust you to imagine looking our working and middle-class families in the eye when you make the right call on this change.