🔒Eversource, UI parent and PURA move to end lawsuit over Gillett-era practices

Eversource, United Illuminating’s parent company and state utility regulators are asking a court to dismiss a lawsuit over the decision-making practices the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority used under former Chair Marissa Gillett. The joint motion, filed Wednesday by the state, would close a case the utilities filed in January 2025 — one of several fronts in a prolonged and often bitter standoff between Connecticut’s largest utilities and the agency that sets their rates. Eversource and United Illuminating had accused PURA of concentrating its decision-making power under Gillett, with Gillett appointing herself the presiding officer in nearly every case dating back to 2020. She issued binding rulings on her own, without the recorded commissioner votes that state law requires, the utilities alleged. That practice, the companies argued, masked the fact that a single regulator was deciding their cases and deprived them of the chance to appeal those rulings to the full panel. PURA’s practices targeted by the lawsuit have since changed. Gillett resigned last fall, and two other commissioners named as defendants have left state government as well. A new commission led by Chair Thomas Wiehl, confirmed by lawmakers this month, has adopted rules that address the companies’ main complaints. Under the new procedures, a panel of commissioners, rather than the chair alone, must decide who presides over each case — a change meant to keep any single regulator from steering the outcome. The panel must also rule on significant motions, name the officials behind each ruling and record their votes for the public. PURA Vice Chair David Arconti, who was named as a defendant, is the only commissioner whose tenure predates the overhaul. The parties asked the court to dismiss the case permanently, meaning it could not be brought again, with each side bearing its own costs. PURA was represented by James Caley and Seth Hollander in the Attorney General’s Office. The utilities were represented by Thomas Murphy, James Healy and Allison White of Cowdery, Murphy & Healy, along with Perry Rowthorn, the state's former chief deputy attorney general.