Connecticut utility regulators are scheduled to vote Wednesday on two matters: the proposed $2.4 billion sale of Aquarion Water Co. and the outcome of a nearly yearlong investigation into a data breach at two Avangrid subsidiaries.
The Aquarion proceeding before the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has drawn significant controversy.
Earlier this month, PURA tentatively approved the sale of Aquarion from Eversource Energy to the Aquarion Water Authority, reversing the agency’s unanimous denial from November.
PURA concluded in the proposed decision that the application is “a creature of statute” and that it “cannot be denied,” citing the General Assembly’s 2024 enabling legislation that authorized the deal.
The vote faces a legal challenge, however. On March 20, a group of intervenors — including the towns of Fairfield, New Canaan, Ridgefield and Westport, along with the Connecticut Metropolitan Council of Governments and the Western Connecticut Council of Governments — filed a joint motion urging the court to stay Superior Court Judge Matthew Budzik’s Jan. 15 order remanding the case to PURA for further proceedings. They’re asking the court to pause enforcement of the remand order, pending the outcome of a separate Appellate Court appeal and possible legislative action.
If the court grants the stay before Wednesday, PURA’s remand proceedings would likely be halted. The Office of Consumer Counsel supports the motion, according to the filing.
The intervenors appealed the Superior Court’s remand order to the Appellate Court on Feb. 3, and the applicants — Aquarion Water Authority, South Central Regional Water Authority and Eversource — filed a motion to dismiss that appeal on Feb. 13, arguing the towns lack standing. That motion remains pending.
Adding further pressure, 32 members of the General Assembly sent a letter to PURA on March 3 urging it to delay a final decision, warning that the Superior Court’s ruling was legally incorrect and likely to be reversed on appeal.
The lawmakers also signaled their intent to pass clarifying legislation. A proposed bill that has cleared the Energy and Technology Committee explicitly states that PURA has full jurisdiction to review every element of this type of transaction.
Also on the agenda for Wednesday’s PURA meeting is a proposed final decision that would close the investigation that began last spring after Connecticut Natural Gas and Southern Connecticut Gas — both subsidiaries of Orange-based Avangrid — experienced a phishing attack on April 1, 2025.
An employee was tricked into forwarding a spreadsheet of customer account data to an outside threat actor posing as the company’s CEO. PURA’s proposed final decision, issued Feb. 11, found that Avangrid acted reasonably in implementing its cybersecurity program, responding to the breach, and notifying customers and state agencies.
PURA identified several areas for improvement, however, including how Avangrid classifies sensitive customer data, how it communicates security incidents to employees, and the level of specificity it provides to customers and the Attorney General’s office when disclosing a breach.
Wednesday’s meeting, which begins at 9 a.m., will be broadcast live on PURA’s YouTube channel.
