NEW BRITAIN, CT – Consumer Counsel Coleman issued the following statement in response to Eversource Energy’s Connecticut Superior Court appeal of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority’s (PURA) July 2026 Final Decision concerning the company’s storm restoration costs incurred between 2018 and 2023, where PURA authorized recovery of $861 million of a $1.36 billion total request.
“At a time when families are struggling to pay their monthly electric bills and make ends meet, Eversource seems more interested in bleeding customers dry and draining state resources than accepting the outcome of a three-year regulatory review. Instead of moving forward and focusing on serving customers, Eversource is choosing to bankroll costly, meritless appeals, diverting time and attention from the critical work of addressing Connecticut's energy affordability challenges. Eversource customers deserve more than a seemingly endless cycle of financial demands and litigation from their utility. It is long overdue for Eversource to start prioritizing the people it serves over enriching its investors. OCC will continue to fight to protect customers’ wallets from this grasping in court and before PURA,” said Consumer Counsel Claire Coleman.
Background:
Eversource first sought approval in December 2023 to recover $634 million in storm restoration and costs associated with major weather-related events occurring between 2018 and 2021.
Eversource expanded the request to include additional storms through 2023, totaling approximately $1.36 billion in restoration expenses and carrying costs.
Over a two-year period, Eversource filed 74 motions for extensions of time to respond to discovery requests, collectively totaling more than 1,000 days in requested extensions.
Throughout the proceedings, OCC conducted an extensive investigation into storm eligibility, vendor oversight and management, excessive food, lodging and transportation expenses, and duplicative cost recovery. OCC recommended PURA reduce the request by 50%, approving no more than $689.5 million, or as little as $484.5 million if existing storm reserves were applied against the principal. OCC also argued that Eversource’s unprecedented request for $304 million in carrying costs should be denied in full.
In July 2026, PURA disallowed approximately $500 million of Eversource’s request, including $103.5 million in principal storm expenses, and in accordance with OCC’s arguments, the $397 million in retroactive carrying charges. Of the disallowed $103.5 million, $63 million in vendor costs were disallowed, but eligible for future recovery, consistent with OCC’s legal objections that supporting evidence for unresolved disputes and ongoing audits were not introduced by Eversource into the record and subject to investigation before the close of the evidentiary record.
In a July Q2 2026 Earnings Call, Eversource executives acknowledged that it had excluded the retroactive interest costs in Eversource’s own financial forecasts because it didn’t “have a high level of degree of conviction” that it would recover these costs.
Nonetheless, in August, Eversource filed a petition for reconsideration challenging PURA’s disallowances of retroactive carrying charges and disallowed vendor costs, which PURA rejected. These same costs are at issue in Eversource’s appeal filed with the New Britain Superior Court today.
On top of these storm costs and carrying charges Eversource seeks to have customers pay, Eversource’s additional distribution rate increase request filed in July is the largest for an electric distribution company in state history, seeking to impose additional burden on the same customer base.
For more information on the underlying request, see OCC’s findings of imprudence and PURA’s final decision.
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OCC Contact: Brooke Parker
brooke.parker@ct.gov | 203-885-4509
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.