Energy Bill Doesn't Guarantee Savings

A top executive of Connecticut Light & Power says the recently passed energy bill cannot guarantee the savings it promises on electric rates. CL&P President Jeff Butler says there needs to be a fresh review of the pressures on power prices in the state. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.

Governor Rell still hasn’t said if she’ll sign the massive energy bill hastily passed in the final days of the legislative session. It changes the way utilities buy power, puts new restrictions on alternative suppliers, gives more state support to renewables, and reorganizes the Department of Public Utility Control. The bill says its provisions should result in a 15% drop in electric rates in the state. CL&P’s Jeff Butler says while there are some good provisions in the bill, overall it can’t deliver.

"It appears to me that you have some growing agencies, you have large-scale potential renewable resources that are above market price. You start adding these things together and there’s not the details on how to get that decrease. We don’t see the merit in the bill that you can stand behind and say that we expect a 15% reduction."

Butler says the utility strongly disagrees with the proposal to subsume the DPUC into a new energy and technology authority. He’s calling on state leaders to bring together energy experts to discuss the concept of re-regulation, and how the state should be generating and purchasing power.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.