GSC rates are heading up!
Connecticut electricity customers getting their generation supply from Eversource or United Illuminating are getting bad news this week.
Their rates will go up on January 1, 2018.
On November 3, the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority approved residential Generation Service Charge (GSC) rate increases for both utilities. The GSC rate is a direct pass through cost for the price of generation. The price was set during the bi-annual power auction process when Eversource and United Illuminating bids for supply contracts.
Timing of the announcement, meanwhile, came at a particularly inauspicious time for either Eversource or UI as damage from the October 29 storm left hundreds of thousands of their customers in the dark, some for days.
Eversource’s residential rates will rise by 13.3% from 8.014¢/kWh to 9.078¢/kWh.
United Illuminating residential rates jump from 7.6 cents/kWh to 9.66 cents/kWh. That’s a 27% increase. Consumers in Bridgeport and New Haven might want to start looking for new cheap light companies.
The rate hike also falls after Dominion Energy trick or treated the governor’s mansion and came away with a shiny new law signed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy that permits, but does not require the Millstone nuclear power plant to be re-categorized as a zero-carbon power plant. Whether or not that happens depends on the results of an on-going market study. Whether or not Millstone will need subsidizing has also yet to be determined, partly because Dominion Energy has refused to fully share its financials. Gov. Mallow has said that he expects Millstone to be profitable through 2035.
But while Connecticut’s rate payers might not need to worry about subsidies to Millstone hanging around their necks like…well, a millstone…they do need to be concerned about the coming winter. NOAA predicts that while above normal temperatures may stick around through December, an emerging La Niña in late fall may bring colder weather to Connecticut depending on the strength of the La Niña. Cold weather on top of a higher GSC rate could really get expensive!
All Connecticut electricity consumers have the power to choose their electricity provider. The place to find the right provider with the right plan that meets your family’s needs is CTEnergyRatings.com!