Join us for our third Google Hangout as we have a conversation about state laws intended to help people weigh the risks and benefits of choosing a third-party electric supplier versus staying with the standard offer provided by your local utility, Eversource or United Illuminating. Shop carefully. Some retailers are offering rates cheaper than the standard offer, but they charge enrollment fees that can quickly exceed the modest savings.
Electric rates
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut should adopt time-of-use electric rates
Fixed pricing for electricity should go the way of the rotary dial telephone. We could solve many of our regional energy problems by more accurately pricing electricity closer to the actual cost of generating the power. Those costs vary dramatically based upon seasonal and hour-to-hour fluctuation in electricity demand.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
House sends variable electric rate ban to Malloy
The House of Representatives voted 144 to 1 Wednesday for final passage of legislation banning electric retailers from offering variable-rate contracts to residential customers. The governor intends to sign the bill.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Senate votes to ban variable electric-rate contracts
The state Senate passed bipartisan legislation Wednesday night that a sponsor says could make Connecticut the first state to ban variable electric- rate contracts that consumer advocates say are routinely used to exploit residential customers.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Eversource and UI electric rates heading for big drop in July
Electric rates charged by Connecticut’s two utilities are headed for major reductions for the six months beginning July 1. Eversource Energy standard offer rates for residential customers will drop by more than one-third, and United Illuminating rates will drop nearly one-third.
Posted inMoney
About face: Legislators push ban on variable electric rates
A new push to ban variable electric rates is a tacit admission by key legislators that a 2014 consumer protection law was insufficient to protect customers against bait-and-switch marketing by some of the electric retailers who compete with United Illuminating and Connecticut Light & Power, now known as Eversource Energy.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: Wholesale electric prices down in Connecticut, but for how long?
This winter’s lesson is clear. Expanding natural gas pipeline capacity is a must to lower electricity costs in New England, as is importing large-scale hydroelectricity from Canada.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-Ed: Wholesale electric prices down in Connecticut, but for how long?
This winter’s lesson is clear. Expanding natural gas pipeline capacity is a must to lower electricity costs in New England, as is importing large-scale hydroelectricity from Canada.
Posted inPolitics
Higher electric rates could jolt General Assembly
Stunning jumps in monthly electric rates as the Connecticut General Assembly convenes its 2015 session next month create a market opportunity for electric retailers and a political opportunity for those who would regulate them.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money, Politics
House approves consumer protections for electric customers
The House unanimously gave final passage Monday to consumer protections for electric customers, keeping intact a Senate bill praised by legislators as a breakthrough, while advocacy groups complained it did not go far enough to protect consumers from predatory marketing.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money, Politics
CT Senate passes consumer protections, but advocates balk
The Connecticut Senate unanimously passed consumer protections for electric customers Tuesday that advocacy groups say are inadequate and should be strengthened once the bill comes before the House of Representatives.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money, Politics
Will consumer protections match the promises?
A bipartisan compromise, the product of negotiations with the much-maligned retail electric industry, has been drafted and is expected to be approved by the Senate today or Wednesday.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Malloy promises consumer protections — details to come
Consumer advocates responded cautiously Tuesday to a promise by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and other top Democrats to deliver far-reaching consumer protections to thwart misleading marketing by electric suppliers.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Consumer protections promised, not yet delivered in CT
Consumers’ groups delivered a reminder to legislators Monday about their high expectations for still-developing legislation that leaders promise will protect the public against bait-and-switch marketing by third-party electric suppliers.
Posted inPolitics
CT Democrats make election-year pitch to older voters
The General Assembly’s election-year session doesn’t begin until next week, but one thing already is clear: Legislators and the governor are ardently courting older voters, one of largest and most reliable elements of the electorate.
Democratic leaders Friday outlined a low-cost, high-profile legislative agenda of consumer protections and other items backed by AARP, the over-50 advocacy group that says polling shows its members comprise 40 percent of voter turnout in Connecticut.