Senator Tony Hwang today applauded the Senate’s passage of S.B. 7, An Act Strengthening Protections for Connecticut’s Consumers of Energy: bipartisan legislation which aims to strengthen oversight of the state’s utilities on behalf of consumers

“This is a first step to improving reliability and reducing the costs of electricity in our state,” said Sen. Hwang, who is the former Ranking Senator on the Energy and Technology Committee.

Many of the concepts in the legislation originated from S.B. 123, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Hwang in January.

They include reforms that will lower energy costs and improve reliability by incorporating more zero-carbon nuclear energy into our Renewable Energy Portfolio; improving cost transparency on consumers energy bill to include costs of supply, transmission, distribution, and state policies; strengthening the ability to protect ratepayers by putting guardrails around the settlement process for rate making; reducing the ability of utilities to recover the costs of travel and leisure for their directors and executives; and paying utilities more for positive performance rather than simply more sales.

“Electric rates in Connecticut are too high,” Sen. Hwang said. “We need to do all we can to drive down these unacceptably high costs. We need to put consumers first, and this bill moves us in the right direction.”

The legislation awaits a vote in the House of Representatives.

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