Dominion Energy signaled an intention Friday to play hardball with state energy officials by questioning the need to share financial data sought by Connecticut state agencies that are jointly assessing the economic viability of its Millstone nuclear power station, the biggest source of electricity in New England.
Public Utilities Regulatory Authority
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Inquiry opens into fiscal condition of Millstone nuclear station
After lobbying for financial relief for two years, Dominion Energy was non-committal Thursday about providing financial data sought by two state agencies tasked with assessing the financial viability of its Millstone nuclear power plant.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Millstone cool to Malloy’s ordered study of nukes’ viability
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order Tuesday aimed at resolving hotly contested questions about the economic viability of the Millstone Power Station, a nuclear-powered generator of electricity crucial to Connecticut’s goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The plant’s owner warned it needs immediate changes to keep Millstone open.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Nuclear brinksmanship: Does Millstone need help to stay open?
Lobbyists crowded into a committee room at the General Assembly to watch the inevitable advance Tuesday of a bill that sponsors say would simultaneously lower electric rates and stabilize profits generated by the Millstone Nuclear Power Station. Opponents say the bill would cost ratepayers and produce a windfall for the plant’s owner, Dominion Resources of Virginia.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Katie Dykes, state’s energy policy strategist, to join PURA
Katie Dykes, a key voice on energy policy as a deputy commissioner at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, was nominated Thursday by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to serve as a commissioner of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.
Posted inPolitics
Arthur House to leave PURA, oversee cybersecurity for state
Arthur H. House, who has had an up and down relationship with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, stepped down Wednesday as chairman of the three-member Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to become the state’s first chief of cybersecurity.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Nuclear power’s future in Connecticut is on the table
The economic viability of the Millstone nuclear station in Waterford, the largest power plant in New England and a crucial factor in Connecticut’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gases, is about to become a major issue in Hartford.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Shared solar program in Connecticut stalled over who pays for what
Connecticut’s shared solar pilot program has already missed its first deadline and faces even more delays. In the meantime, arguments over how to pay for clean energy are bubbling up again.
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 inEnergy & Environment, Politics
PURA commissioners decline Malloy’s invitation to resign
The chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority said Tuesday that he and his colleagues saw no reason to accept Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s public invitation to resign over the question of whether the authority was sufficiently independent and adequately staffed under the Malloy administration.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Malloy to PURA regulators: Quit if you don’t like status quo
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy angrily rebuffed a request by state utility regulators for greater independence, inviting them Monday to resign if they cannot live within the unique structure his administration created in a merged Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Utility regulators make a pitch for independence from DEEP
Nearly four years after Connecticut’s independent utility regulatory body became part of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the regulators are asking for their independence back.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT creeps toward electric grid 2.0
Connecticut is starting a process to modernize the state’s electric grid to make it cleaner, leaner and more adaptable to new methods of power generation and distribution. Exploring how to do that will be a major focus for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, beginning early next year.
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 inMoney, Politics
CL&P rate request has become a lightning rod
Connecticut Light & Power Co. has nearly four times as many customers here as United Illuminating, the state’s other major electric utility. Yet when it comes to rake hikes – and the Connecticut politicians who care – the ratio is skewed far more heavily toward CL&P.