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The following letter was sent to Connecticut State Senator Christine Cohen regarding the Public Benefit charge that has appeared on electric bills in the state. The author, Laurie Friedler, asked that the we share the letter to help inspire others to reach out to their legislators regarding this shocking charge.

Ms. Christine Cohen

Ct State Senator

Dear Senator Cohen,

I am writing to you today as a Madison, CT resident in reference to charges assessed to my Eversource Electric Bill for “Public Benefits“ with a $91.69 charge. To put this into perspective and make it real to you, that is roughly what I spend on my Mother’s diapers every month.

Thinking that this might have been some sort of default volunteer program put into place and that I might have overlooked to opt out of, I contacted Eversource to request having them terminate our participation.

After multiple attempts to reach Customer Service, only to get their voice announcement of high volume calls and to try again later I finally got a hold of a Representative who tried to explain the unfathomable-that this ‘program’ was imposed on consumers by our legislators and that Eversource did not have any recourse but to pass the charges along.

The more she spoke, trying to encourage me to contact you and other legislators, the more offensive and egregious it all sounded.

She informed me that Eversource objected to these charges on consumers, especially after a huge increase in energy costs, and how they were deeply concerned that they would be inundated with phone calls and complaints about the news.

This is really unprecedented to have elected officials dictate this “program” to their constituents without consent, and impose what is essentially a tax with no regard to consequences. This power-grab is un-American and the round-about way this was done is really offensive in its disregard for people’s finances and budgetary commitments.  It would be easy to ask WHY but I really think that is irrelevant at this point. The why is something that is discussed BEFORE and not in reaction to an action taken.

More important, HOW it is that you can circumvent people’s will and tax the public using a conduit as fundamental as their energy / utility bill is beyond me.

There are so many things fundamentally wrong with this ‘tax’ that it needs a prompt correction and termination of this unauthorized charge to our accounts.  If this happened to my credit card, I would report fraud and the company would investigate, issue me a credit for unathorized charge and send me a new credit card.

What I am writing about is a profound disenchantment with politicians who violate our trust.

There is nothing more upsetting than someone dipping their fingers in your pocket and that is what this is.  

I am hereby asking that you rescind this Benefits Program and release consumers from the tax burden on our already outrageously high electric bill; after all, Eversource has a monopoly and it’s not like we can go find a competitor.  Please respond at your earliest convenience.

Respectfully submitted,

Laurie Friedler

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