NEW BRITAIN, CT – Consumer Counsel Claire Coleman issued the following statement regarding the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority’s (PURA) final decision in Docket No. 25-12-13, disallowing $500 million, or approximately 40 percent, of Eversource Energy’s $1.36 billion request to recover accrued storm costs from 2018-2023. These disallowances include $103.5 million cut from the principal storm balance costs and $396.7 million in carrying costs that Eversource was not entitled to by law. It also reduced the recovery in this proceeding an additional $193 million due to previously recovered costs through the recent May 1st RAM adjustment and the storm reserve fund.
“Given the length of time since some of these storms took place and the voluminous record, this proceeding has been one of the most difficult reviews OCC has performed. Despite these challenges, my team’s investigation revealed hundreds of millions in imprudent company spending, ranging from excessive and unjustified standby charges to unsupported invoices, grossly exaggerated travel times, and even private jet travel when relying on costly out-of-state vendors. While today’s decision does not include our full list of disallowances and could have held Eversource to account in areas where OCC does not believe the company met its burden of proof, the decision appropriately denied Eversource retrospective carrying charges and adopted several of the adjustments identified through OCC’s prudency review related to storm eligibility, vendor oversight and management, excessive food, lodging, and transit spending, and duplicative cost recovery. Overall, the ratepayer savings reflected in the final decision would not have been possible without OCC’s extensive investigation, legal analysis, and advocacy,” said Consumer Counsel Coleman.
The final decision reflects many of the core principles advanced by the OCC through the proceeding. Among other things, PURA:
- Disallowed $397 million in retrospective carrying charges that Eversource was not legally entitled to;
- Recognized $91 million in available reserve accruals to offset customer costs;
- Applied a $100 million offset already approved in the annual Rate Adjustment Proceeding and applied through the Competitive Transition Assessment (CTA) line item.
OCC also highlighted significant trends identified during the 2018 to 2023 storm period in its briefing, including:
- Average cost per trouble spot, or root cause of an outage, increased from approximately $3,400 to over $9,100;
- Average cost per customer restored rose from $130 to as high as $865;
- Total restoration costs increased 160% to more than 500% compared to earlier years.
As a result of these findings, OCC will continue to advance recommendations for systemic changes, including more frequent reviews of storm costs, more rigorous justification requirements for deviating from utility Emergency Response Plan (ERP) frameworks, additional improved cost controls and vendor management practices, and enhanced data analysis.
OCC will continue advocating for reforms that ensure that Connecticut utility companies are required to meet its burden of substantiating every dollar it seeks to recover from customers and to ensure customers pay no more than is necessary to provide safe and reliable electric service in accordance with the law.
More information and today’s decision can be found here and OCC’s briefing positions 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.