Connecticut State Rep. Andy Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, introduced legislation into the General Assembly last week to force electric utility companies to refund their excess profits to customers.
The minimum profits of electric utilities are set in the rates determined by the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control, but the companies can earn more profit than the minimum. Fleischmann is proposing any utility generators profits above 20 percent on equity be taxed at a 50 percent rate, with the money going back to customers as a refund on their utility bills.
“This would provide immediate relief to Connecticut consumers and small businesses that currently face some of the highest electric bills in the country,” Fleischmann said in a statement. “At a time when so many of our working families and small businesses owners are struggling, it is shameful-and outrageous-that electric companies should reap unprecedented profits.”
