Connecticut House Bill HB05635

Connecticut 2023 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/18/23
• Refer: 1/18/23

Caption

An Act Concerning Utility Revenue Decoupling Formulas And Lost Sales From Storm-related Outages.

Impact

The implications of HB 05635 are significant as they pertain to the regulation of utility companies, particularly in how they can recover lost revenues when outages occur. By shifting the responsibility of determining the decoupling mechanism to PURA, the bill aims to promote a more tailored approach to address the unique challenges posed by storm-related outages. Supporters of the bill may argue it provides a balanced approach, allowing for better resilience planning within the utilities sector without unfairly burdening consumers with costs tied to storm disruptions.

Summary

House Bill 05635 proposes amendments to section 16-19tt of the general statutes in order to grant the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) more discretion in determining utility revenue decoupling formulas. The main objective of the bill is to exclude the recovery of revenue associated with sales lost due to service outages caused by storms. This change reflects an effort to provide utilities with a more flexible framework for managing their revenue structures, particularly in relation to external factors that result in interruptions to service.

Contention

One of the notable points of contention surrounding HB 05635 relates to how it might influence consumer rates and the overall fairness of recovery practices in the utility sector. Critics may raise concerns that allowing utilities to recover lost sales in different ways could lead to increased rates for consumers under certain circumstances. Additionally, there may be debates regarding the transparency and accountability of PURA's decisions in implementing the new decoupling formulas.