Electric Bills To Rise By 1 Percent In 2004

HARTFORD – Electric bills for Connecticut Light & Power customers are predicted to rise by one percent in 2004, following a decision by state regulators December 19.

The Department of Public Utility Control decided to limit how much more the state’s largest utility can charge customers to upgrade its network of poles, wires and substations.

“This brings to a conclusion a long saga that many of us were concerned about,” said Donald Downes, DPUC chairman.

The one percent increase works out to about 50 cents for a customer who pays a $50 bill each month.

The 2004 rates may fluctuate, however, if there are problems in the electrical network that cause costs to increase, or if the cost of fuels used to generate electricity rise.

Rates could also increase in 2005 and 2006, because CL&P has not yet secured electricity contracts for those years.

The utility’s rates had been capped this year, but customers saw their bills rise 12.7 percent because of new federally mandated charges stemming from the new wholesale pricing system.

Electric rates were capped at 10 percent below 1996 levels since electric restructuring took hold in 2000. The DPUC on Friday ordered a 7.1 percent increase in rates out of a possible 11.1 percent allowed under the law.

Regulators granted CL&P only $98.5 million out of the $677 million requested by the company in the next four years, among other measures.

Chris Riley, a CL&P spokesman, said the company will develop individual rates for residential, commercial and industrial consumers and ask for approval from the DPUC. The body is expected to rule December 29.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal opposed the decision.

He said an “energy adjustment clause” line item left in the rate plan could be used in 2005 and 2006 to pass on additional electric generation costs to customers. That would let DPUC get around the 11.1 percent rate increase limit imposed by the General Assembly.

“The commission misread the rate cap statute, skewing its language and intent,” Blumenthal said. “The legislature intended that all costs – generation, distribution and transmission – be included in the capped price.”