NEW BRITAIN, CT – Today, Consumer Counsel Coleman issued the following statement regarding the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority’s (PURA) Reconsidered Final Decision in Docket No. 24-12-01 where Yankee Gas Company’s requested reconsideration of PURA’s Original Final Decision has resulted in a total increase of approximately $87 million to the company’s approved revenue requirement. This is approximately $5 million more than PURA authorized in November and on top of what is currently being collected through customer bills. In addition to raising the authorized revenue requirement, PURA also removed a Return on Equity (ROE) penalty which changed the total approved ROE to 9.48% from 9.32%.
“Today’s decision is another setback for Connecticut ratepayers. Setting aside the concerning revenue requirement increase, Yankee now has the highest approved return of any regulated utility in the state. A market-driven ROE is meant to reflect performance, and when a company has room to improve, regulators can and should reduce that return to create an incentive for better and more cost-effective service outcomes. I hope that our utility companies will not conclude from these recent decisions increasing their returns that they have no work to do to improve their performance and reduce costs. Rising costs are a problem in need of a comprehensive solution and OCC will continue to fight against unnecessary increases that only benefit corporate interests,” said Consumer Counsel Coleman.
OCC estimates that the Reconsidered Final Decision issued today will add approximately 75 cents per month to the original $15 increase in average residential customer monthly bills as a result of PURA’s original decision in the docket, totaling approximately $15.75 per month. Bill impact analyses are complex calculations with several variables for consideration and estimates vary by customer classes and individual usage. OCC will update bill impact calculations as they become available.
More information and today’s decision can be found here and OCC’s briefs can be found here and here.
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Media Contact: Brooke Parker
brooke.parker@ct.gov | 203-540-7154
About the Office: The Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC) is an independent state agency that represents the interests of consumers of Connecticut’s electric, natural gas, telecommunications, and private water companies before PURA, federal regulatory agencies, the legislature and courts. OCC’s team of attorneys, accountants, financial and policy analysts appear before PURA to argue for the most reasonable rates while expecting the best utility service possible for all customers.