ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG URGES REJECTION OF $25 MILLION RATE HIKE FOR CONNECTICUT WATER CUSTOMERS
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today filed a brief with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority urging rejection of an unjustified and unaffordable $25 million rate hike request from the Connecticut Water Company. If approved, the request would raise rates by more than 18 percent, or approximately $156 per year for the average customers.
CT Water serves 108,000 water customers in 60 communities across Connecticut, plus 3,000 wastewater customers in Southbury.
“Connecticut families pay far too much for their utilities as it is, and we cannot afford unjustified double-digit increases. We combed through every page of CT Water’s application, and we found $19 million in bloated profits, uneconomical capital structures, and multiple instances where the company was inappropriately seeking to offload shareholder costs onto ratepayers. I urge PURA to reject this unsupported demand,” said Attorney General Tong.
Attorney General Tong’s brief outlines multiple areas where the company has failed to justify its demands, outlining $19 million in specific cuts to reduce the burden in Connecticut families, including excessive profit demands, uneconomical capital structures, and several areas where shareholder costs are inappropriately charged to ratepayers.
CT Water is seeking a ten percent return on equity, the highest profit margin of any of the principal regulated utilities in Connecticut. The company is also seeking ratepayer funding of Board of Director fees, liability insurance, and lobbying costs which should be principally funded by shareholders.
Assistant Attorneys General Caroline McCormack and John Wright and Deputy Associate Attorney General Michael Wertheimer, Chief of the Consumer Protection Section assisted the Attorney General in this matter.