Connecticut lawmakers are revisiting a 2024 special-session law that set the stage for Aquarion Water Co.’s proposed sale to the newly formed Aquarion Water Authority, potentially reopening debate over the $2.4 billion transaction amid ongoing legal and regulatory battles.
The Energy and Technology Committee, at its first meeting of the 2026 session last week, raised 19 bill concepts, including a placeholder measure concerning water companies that Co-Chairman Rep. Jonathan Steinberg (D-Westport) suggested could become a vehicle for lawmakers to re-examine the enabling legislation they passed for the deal less than two years ago.
“Whether the legislature, without the benefit of a hearing, got it right, or whether there may still, even at this late date, be something that the legislature could do to clarify its intent, we will at least explore that,” Steinberg said during the Feb. 10 meeting.
Steinberg declined to comment Wednesday. There is currently no further information available about the bill or its intent.
The General Assembly approved Public Act No. 24-1 during a June 2024 special session, legislation that enabled the proposed transfer of Aquarion — Connecticut’s largest water utility, serving about 695,000 customers in 57 municipalities — to a newly formed nonprofit quasi-public entity called the Aquarion Water Authority (AWA).
Under the approved structure, the AWA would share resources with the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority (RWA) in New Haven.
Months after the legislative change was made, Eversource announced in January 2025 that it would sell Aquarion to the Aquarion Water Authority in a $2.4 billion deal. The transaction consists of $1.6 billion in cash and $800 million in assumed debt.
The legislature’s renewed interest in the deal adds a new layer of uncertainty to a transaction already entangled in competing legal and regulatory proceedings.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) unanimously rejected the sale on Nov. 19, 2025, citing concerns about conflicting fiduciary duties on the shared 11-member board, weighted voting rules that would effectively disenfranchise 30 of 59 Aquarion municipalities and a proposed Office of Consumer Affairs it deemed insufficiently independent.
Eversource, AWA and RWA appealed PURA’s decision, and on Jan. 15, New Britain Superior Court Judge Matthew Budzik remanded the case back to PURA, finding that the regulator had illegally blocked governance structures explicitly mandated by the legislature.
He stopped short of ordering approval of the deal, leaving intact PURA’s concerns about the consumer advocacy office. PURA is now scheduled to issue a final decision by March 25.
The proceedings have been further complicated by opposition from Fairfield County towns worried about lost tax revenue from the publicly owned utility and the impact on ratepayers.
The towns of Westport, Fairfield, New Canaan and Ridgefield, along with two regional planning groups, on Feb. 5 filed an appeal of Budzik’s remand order to the state Appellate Court.
The case is pending.
Meantime, Attorney General William Tong, who has opposed the deal, has urged PURA to scrutinize “the negative financial impacts of the transaction on consumers.” Rate projections in the application showed annual increases of 6.5% to 8.35% through 2035.
However, Aquarion says the sale would reduce rate increases.
On Tuesday afternoon, Aquarion sent letters to municipal leaders in its service area arguing that AWA’s nonprofit structure would limit an initial rate increase to roughly $18 million, compared to the $88 million rate hike Aquarion has said it will pursue if the sale is blocked.
Also, Aquarion pointed to an offer of compromise it filed with PURA in October that guarantees payments-in-lieu of taxes at no less than current property tax levels, a rate stabilization fund, permanent rate credits and a structured transition oversight framework.
The Energy & Technology Committee is scheduled to hold its next meeting Thursday. It was unclear Tuesday whether the Aquarion bill would be on the agenda.
