Plan To Reduce CT Electric Rates By 43%

I'm Brad Koltz, Republican endorsed candidate for the 2nd District State Representative seat. And I have a simple, straightforward plan to end CT's decades-long and ever increasing electricity crisis and reduce our electric bills by 43% immediately and up to 57% longer term.

Here are the details of my plan: 

 1. Use ARPA funds to pay for the $160 million in non-shutoff costs from the more than $300 million as yet unspent. * 

 2. Revise CT state law to require Eversource and United Illuminating to use the lowest available electricity rates. For example, the contract with Millstone provides electricity at about 1/2 of what we are being charged because they aren't allowed to sell that electricity to CT consumers. Instead they have to try to sell the Millstone electricity that they currently buy on the wholesale market to other electric distributors, hopefully for a profit. That needs to change now. Millstone generates enough electricity to power ALL of Connecticut. 

  3. Require Electric Distribution Companies (EDCs) such as Eversource and United Illuminating to invest a portion of their massive profits, more than a billion a year for Eversource since 2019, in expanding Electric Vehicle charging stations and grid upgrades since they will ultimately see increased profits from this. It should be required as part of their license to provide electricity to CT consumers rather than requiring ratepayers to underwrite these investments for them.  

  4. Eliminate all remaining Public Benefit charges, funding up to $2 million a year in research programs instead from the general fund.  

 5. Remove PURA, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority that approves these rate and fee hikes, from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to allow PURA to focus on benefits for ratepayers in the form of lowest possible rates rather than environmental and other issues. *  

  6. Require any rate requests higher than the lowest possible rate to be reviewed and ratified annually, after public hearings in any effected year, by the legislature on a 2/3rds vote.  

  7. Similarly require any increase in transmission or delivery charges, other than those mandated by federal regulations, to also receive a 2/3rds vote of the CT legislature. 

  Legislators promoting the policies that have been driving up our electricity costs should not be allowed to continue to hide behind the bureaucrats.  

  8. Create a bipartisan commission to find ways to reduce CT electricity costs to no more than the average cost of all 48 continental U.S. states, which would currently represent a 57% reduction in electricity costs according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency. If Virginia can have electricity rates like that, so can Connecticut.  

  These 8 changes would immediately reduce CT electric rates by 43% and take CT from the highest electricity costs in the continental United States to the 8th most expensive while working toward the longer term objective of reducing electricity costs by up to 57%.  

  This would also take CT from the annual seesaw of 6 month rate changes, some being very dramatic increases, to the same rate across all 12 months for the remainder of the Millstone contract through 2029, allowing consumers and businesses to have a clear expectation of electric rates for the first time in many, many years.  

  The result would be electric bills that go from this:  

   

        

Supply	Transmission	Delivery	Fees	Total
$275.79	$104.27	$256.26	$257.18	$893.50

 

  To this:  

 

         

Supply	Transmission	Delivery	Fees	Total
$153.08	$104.27	$256.26	$0.00	$513.61

 

  With Monthly Savings Of:  

  

        

Supply	Transmission	Delivery	Fees	Total
$122.71	$0.00	$0.00	$257.18	$379.89

 

  This would reduce our electricity bills by 43% a month immediately and provide an annual savings in this example of over $4,500 a year. This is an example based on an actual bill posted online. Those using less electricity will see similar percentage drops under this plan.  

  The claims that this issue is too complex to solve in a special session are clearly not true. Please join the growing chorus of CT voices demanding a special session NOW to address this immediately.  

  Please note that I am pleased that my Republican colleagues also are calling for similar reforms as I am in points 1 and 5 and are working very, very hard to get a special session called to address these outrageous and absolutely unnecessary crushingly expensive fees and supply costs now, not next year or perhaps never.  

  Brad Koltz is the Republican endorsed Candidate for State Representative in the 2nd District