The state Senate and House have passed a wide-ranging energy reform bill that advocates say could lead to lower electric rates but that opponents maintain could ultimately hurt ratepayers, The Associated Press reports.
The 129-page bill, considered one of the biggest changes to the state’s electric industry since deregulation 12 years ago, passed on a 20-14 vote in the Senate late Tuesday. The bill was then sent to the House of Representatives, where lawmakers began debating the measure early this morning and passed it around 6 a.m. by an 81-40 margin.
The bill received overwhelming Democratic support, while Republicans opposed the measure.
The controversial bill was proposed by the co-chairs of the energy committee-Sen. John W. Fonfara, D-Hartford, and Rep. Vickie O. Nardello, D-Prospect-less than a week ago and was not given a public hearing. It now awaits the signature of Gov. M. Jodi Rell who has expressed concerns about the measure.
The bill calls for lowering rates by 15 percent by July 2012 by adopting California’s energy efficient standards for televisions and other appliances and for providing low-interest financing to help property owners make energy efficiency improvements. Environmental groups hailed it as a victory for energy efficiency and renewable energy, including the solar industry.
“The future is about finding ways to use energy intelligently and to reduce our carbon footprint,” said Charles Rothenberger, a staff attorney for the nonprofit Connecticut Fund for the Environment. “Now we are one step closer in bringing renewable energy into more homes and businesses in the state.”
The bill also reorganizes and renames the state’s Department of Public Utility Control. The new entity would be called the Connecticut Energy and Technology Authority, which would new responsibilities including promoting renewable energy sources like solar power.
Rell’s administration has said the reorganization could hamper the DPUC’s ability to properly and legally regulate the electric, gas, water and telecommunications industries.
Questions have also been raised about whether the bill’s financial incentives to help the state’s budding solar industry would ultimately increase costs for ratepayers and whether parts of the complicated legislation would hinder ratepayers’ ability to choose alternative electric suppliers.
Sen. Robert Duff, D-Norwalk, who voted against the bill, said the bill comes at a time when electric consumers in Connecticut are starting to realize they have various choices in the retail electricity market since the industry was deregulated. Besides the two large distribution companies, Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating, small electric suppliers have opened shop in the state in recent years.
“We are using subtle ways of taking people’s choices away,” Duff said. “I believe that that ends up hurting consumer choice. It ends up hurting the retail market and ultimately ends up potentially raising prices as well.”
Other parts of the bill call for job training for minority-owned energy businesses, a study of placing solar panels on large state buildings, consumer protections for customers who purchase their power from the competitive electric suppliers and programs to replace inefficient furnaces.
HBJ Staff Writer Greg Bordonaro contributed to this report
