Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund

Seven Democrats and a Republican said Tuesday that they plan to push for at least a partial restoration of a $175 million raid from the state's energy efficiency programs passed in the late October budget.

With the flourish of a veto-proof margin, the House of Representatives voted Thursday to give final legislative passage to an overdue, bipartisan budget crafted without the direct involvement of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

A ratepayer-backed lending program for energy-saving heating upgrades has lowered its interest rates from 2.99 percent to 0.99 percent well in advance of winter.

A revised budget proposal unveiled by newly empowered Senate Republicans would divert $320 million from ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs to the state's general fund over the next two fiscal years.

Colleges often talk to local companies to gauge their future workforce needs, searching for opportunities to build new programs to help fill the gaps and attract students amid a competitive higher-ed market.

Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz has appointed an affordable housing and finance expert to the board of directors of the quasi-public Connecticut Green Bank.

More than half of the electricity suppliers operating in Connecticut will pay a combined $7.9 million for missing mandated renewable energy targets in 2014, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority disclosed in a draft decision this week.

With Hartford temperatures forecasted to peak at 90 degrees or higher for the next seven days, state energy officials and utility providers are asking for customers to help lessen power demand.

HARC Inc., a nonprofit program provider for people with intellectual disabilities, has completed an upgrade of its Hartford headquarters that it expects will save it more than $16,000 a year in energy costs.

Farmington-based United Technologies Corp. said it has signed an agreement with Eversource to help it reach aggressive energy-efficiency goals over the next three years.