Danbury Mayor Calls Eversource Rates a Slap in the Face!

The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) just approved another rate hike for Eversource to pass on to it's Connecticut customers. According to NBC CT:

Electric bills for most Connecticut customers will be going up yet again next month. The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) approved rate increase requests for both Eversource and United Illuminating on Wednesday morning. The utilities said they need the rate increases to cover costs of electric vehicle charging stations installed around the state. A spokesperson for Eversource said the company expects the new increase for typical residential customers using 700kWh per month will be an additional $3 per month from Sept. 1 through April 30, 2025. This latest increase comes just after a change to electric bills with a new state law that took effect July 1.

On Thursday (08/15/24), Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves joined us on the I-95 Morning Show and we asked him about this.

Lou: We asked New Milford Mayor Pete Bass this question yesterday and now we want to ask you, when folks from Danbury come to you and say, what are we going to do about Eversource? My rates when up again, AGAIN, there is another rate hike in the news this morning. What do you say to folks that come to you and say, what am I supposed to do? 

Mayor: "First, I'd just agree with them, I think it's insane what happens here, the grip that Eversource has. I know a lot of folks like to blame the legislature and they go, there is this that happened in 2017, or this happened in 1995, right? Let's just stop that and get together as people, as communities and figure out what we have to do because this isn't sustainable. I think of folks like my mom who, you know we're not wealthy people and life was hard growing up and she still works hard. My father passed away and she's a CNA trying to pay all of her bills and her mortgage, she does not make a lot and those rates effect every single person. So, I implore anyone who has a say in this from PURA, to the legislature, to Eversource, when is enough, enough? This monopoly, somewhat of a monopoly on the delivery in Connecticut has just got to end. I'd be glad to work hand-and-hand with Mayor Bass to represent our people and go and speak up on this. These are things we need, this isn't a luxury, this is energy, this is 2024. You can't function without power, we all work here I am, I have to charge my cellphone to talk to you guys and to run a city and do everything we do. This isn't a, these are necessities now, these are not luxuries. We have to make it affordable for people, how I direct people is to keep e-mailing and calling anybody and everybody you can but let's do it together and strength in numbers."

Lou: What I found frustrating on the last go-around, not this rate hike that we read about today, the explanation was well, this line-item on your bill what was it a few weeks ago that everyone was talking about it? They said this line on your bill isn't going to the Eversource bottom-line and what I would say on behalf of others is, we don't care. The system is messed up, it's still coming out of our pocket and it's confusing, and I think intentionally so. 

Mayor: "Oh I 100% agree. You have to get so in the weeds to understand, oh we had to decommission a plant and now we got this, nobody cares. What we see is, personally in my house, my bill went up I believe my wife said 53%. Fifty-three percent, that is a lot of money! Just because some folks may be able to pay that does not make it right. Then there is some other folks, my mother is an example who are on such a stretch with their income that they can't afford those increases and that is what we have to fight for. That is what we have to stand up for, there are so many things that people don't mind paying for if they see that return, they see what it is worth. But with this one, we just feel like it's a slap in our faces when you see a CEO making $18 million, when you see an organization that is profitable making money but then they keep throwing all these increases out to us and when is it going to end?"

By the way, the Mayor has been on fire lately. A few weeks back he pulled off an impromptu roast of me when I was complaining about the roads around the city. This was hilarious.

We asked New Milford Mayor Pete Bass about the Eversource rate hikes the morning prior, you can hear his answer below.

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