🔒Energy costs, rising demand take center stage at HBJ energy forum

Business leaders, utility executives and policymakers gathered Tuesday at the Society Room in Hartford for the Hartford Business Journal’s second annual energy forum, a morning-long program on what rising electricity costs and surging power demand mean for Connecticut companies.

The first panel, moderated by HBJ Editor Greg Bordonaro, examined the surge in electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.

Jacob Lucas, head of transmission planning at Eversource, described the volume of large data center projects seeking to connect to the regional grid and the reliability questions they raise. ReNew Developers President John Matheson and Eric Strayer, global head of sales at Danbury-based FuelCell Energy, discussed on-site power generation and whether smaller, distributed facilities are a better fit for Connecticut than hyperscale operators.

The second panel focused on what businesses are actually paying for electricity. HBJ Associate Publisher Jessica moderated a discussion with Justin Kearney, managing director at Titan Energy; Alysse Lembo-Buzzelli, director of program development and origination for financing programs at the Connecticut Green Bank; and Scott Livingston, president and CEO of Horst Engineering.

Livingston offered a manufacturer’s view, describing how energy costs affect the price of the precision components his company makes.

“It’s embedded in everything, and ultimately it ends up in the price of our products,” Livingston said.

He estimated the firm’s direct energy costs at about $25,000 a month. The company, which employs about 140 people at its East Hartford plant, has installed a 366-kilowatt rooftop solar array that supplies roughly half the facility’s electricity.

Also, Horst has locked in a multi-year, fixed-supply contract through CBIA Energy Connections, which he said helps make costs more predictable.

Lembo-Buzzelli outlined financing and incentive programs available to small businesses looking to cut energy use. She said the Green Bank is seeing steady demand for solar and efficiency financing, and urged businesses weighing projects to account for the federal tax credit deadlines that took effect in July. Solar projects that had not broken ground by July 4 now have to be running by the end of 2027 to claim the federal clean electricity investment tax credit for businesses.

The final panel took up federal policy. Chris Davis, senior vice president of public policy at the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, moderated a conversation with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal; Heather E. Burns, founder and CEO of the Connecticut Sustainable Business Council; Andy Frank, deputy commissioner of energy and technology policy at the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection; and Sam Schneider, CEO and founder of EarthLight Technologies.

The group discussed federal oversight of transmission costs, the rollback of clean energy tax credits, permitting delays and renewed interest in nuclear power. Blumenthal described legislation he has introduced to require federal regulators to weigh affordability when approving transmission rates.

Schneider, whose company installs residential and commercial solar, said demand softened after the 30% federal residential tax credit expired at the end of last year, though less sharply than the industry expected. He said customer interest has shifted toward leasing arrangements and toward battery storage, which retains its federal credit longer, and that even small commercial projects run into interconnection delays.