Offers proposals for long-term relief

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State Sen. Rob Sampson (R-Wolcott) echoed the Senate and House Republican call Thursday for a special legislative session to tackle perpetually high electric rates in Connecticut and said it's time for Governor Lamont to take a more aggressive role in bringing together lawmakers, utility companies, and government regulators to develop a reasonable state strategy on energy.

“I’m joining my Republican colleagues to help the people of our state right now. This situation is not sustainable, and we must fix it by going into a special session to enact policy solutions that Republicans offered six months ago. These solutions were shot down by majority Democrats, yet these are the same people asking for your vote in November. I urge the governor to call for a special session for the good of millions of Connecticut residents,” he said.

Senate and House Republicans held a press conference at the Legislative Office Building, where they outlined proposals to provide rate relief to customers who for years have been frustrated by costly bills that they say are squeezing their personal finances. The proposals mirror those offered by the Senate and House Republicans in February, when they urged action as they reminded Democrats about the financial pressure on constituents caused by high electric bills.

The proposals outlined Thursday include:

• Limit all future Power Purchase Agreements so that no contract can be for more than 150% over the wholesale electric market price.
• Study moving public policy charges off ratepayer bills and into the budget.
• Redefine Class I renewable energy sources to include all forms of hydropower and all nuclear power to lower the cost of these energy sources.
• Separate the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA).
• Cover the portion of rate increases associated the moratorium on electric service shutoffs by reallocating remaining end-of-year American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, and examining budgetary options that could make available as much as $1 billion. 

Republicans lamented the fact that one of their passed-over proposals from February could have blunted the increase ratepayers are seeing now. They said the governor and Democrats should have acted on their plan to use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to cover the cost tied to a roughly four-year state-imposed moratorium on electric service shutoffs—a decision that today has left ratepayers covering the bills of those who didn't pay theirs.

Sen. Sampson also pointed to the following legislative policies that are to blame:

• Disproportionately favoring one form of home heating over another, exacerbating the supply problem
• placing the main watchdog agency to protect consumers under the policymaking agency
• regulations that prevent nuclear and hydro expansion

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