After a couple years of debate, compromises and vetoes, sweeping energy policy reform is coming to Connecticut.
Late Tuesday night, the Connecticut House of Representatives passed an omnibus energy bill seeking to lower electricity costs while making the state a national leader in clean technology. The Senate passed the bill on Monday.
All that’s left is Gov. Dannel Malloy’s signature. Unlike 2010 when Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a similar measure, the bill appears headed for executive approval. Malloy’s administration wrote much of the bill, and he is enthusiastic to sign it.
“The rising cost of energy has negatively impacted Connecticut families and businesses, and we need to strategically approach our energy policy if we are to bring relief to either,” Malloy said in a release following Tuesday’s vote. “This legislation has multiple benefits for policymakers and for ratepayers-positioning us to bring down the high cost of energy, as well as bolstering job growth and innovation in our renewable energy sector.”
Included in the many facets of the bill is the creation of a new Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which will be tasked with developing a long-term energy policy that lowers costs to ratepayers while increasing use of clean energy and energy efficiency technologies. Current Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Dan Esty will lead the new agency once other state agencies are folded into the department.
The energy bill also creates a Clean Energy Finance & Investment Authority to leverage private capital for clean energy projects; provides various incentives for renewable energy projects; and gives consumers greater protections in switching to competitive electricity suppliers.
In the final days of the session, the General Assembly also passed a bill eliminating a charge on the bills of Connecticut Light & Power ratepayers that was being used to pay down the state government’s debt. On Monday, the state Senate considered an amendment to repay CL&P ratepayers for what they paid under the charge to this point; but that measure was defeated.
