High Utility Bill Charges For CT
Early last month, we warned CT energy customers about rising electricity bills. But for some CT energy customers, things are a lot worse than predicted. As a result, some standard service customers are steaming mad and pushing back! But how much higher are CT bills? Can you do something about rate hikes from CT’s two big electric companies? Let’s dive right in and talk about how customers rise up against higher utility bill charges.
PBC Charge Spiking Bills
Last month, we talked about how the Public Benefits Charge affects CT bills. As of July 1, Eversource and UI added this charge onto customer bills to cover costs for state-required energy programs and policies. For example, a 2017 law requires both utilities to purchase some of their power from the Millstone Power Station in Waterford. The law says the utilities must pay for this power even if cheaper options exist. Both Eversource and UI can pass the cost over to standard service customers.
The public benefits charge also covers grid investments by the utilities. In other words, these charges help the utilities make the grid more reliable and reduce outage events.
Utility Bills Rise Too High
Initial reporting predicted that UI bills would drop by about $1 while Eversource bills would rise by $8. This is in spite of supply costs dropping. This means that the charges would be significant enough to offset supply cost savings for both utilities. However, that isn’t how it worked out for some customers.
CT Insider reports that some saw huge bill spikes this past month. One customer saw the public benefits portion of their bill jump by $100. And another customer reported that their July electricity bill was $800!
It is important to note that charges and costs are based on energy usage. According to EIA Energy Monthly data, most homes use about 884 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy in August. As you can guess, most of this comes from AC and cooling costs. Which means, that some homes could see bills run about $300 and higher!
CT Customers Rise Against Bill Charges
As you can guess, CT customers aren’t taking this lying down.
Scott Pearson of Monroe, for instance, launched a petition campaign to demand that Governor Ned Lamont and the General Assembly to halt the Combined Public Benefits portion of their bills. From July 28th to this past Tuesday, the petition already received over 12,000 signatures. Pearson hopes to gain 100,000 signatures to present to Governor Lamont, PURA, and other relevant bodies. Pearson also urges affected energy customers to contact state legislators.
It’s too early to tell how this campaign could help. But it does highlight the outrage CT residents are feeling. Still, this public benefits charges will likely remain on your bills for the next 10 months. It’s hard to predict specific costs but keep in mind that they are tied to energy usage. This means that bills will likely drop in the mild autumn and rise during the cold winter.
How CT Residents Can Find Savings
Fortunately, the charges affect the supply portion of your bill. This means that you can shop around for cheaper electricity rates that could help lower your bills. So keep an eye on https://www.ctenergyratings.com for the best energy deals in town. You can also count on us to keep you up to date on the news that could affect your bills.