Church and community leaders have added their voices to the calls for Connecticut Light and Power to withdraw its latest rate request. CL&P has caused uproar by proposing to increase the fixed fees that it charges customers to raise an additional $221 million.
The utility says the rate increase is necessary to pay for storm recovery and improving reliability for the future, but it has met with major resistance from state officials and lawmakers.
In a press conference organized by Senator Richard Blumenthal, Hartford church leaders spoke out about the hardship they believe the rate request will cause their parishioners.
Sam Saylor, a pastor in Hartford, said, "They’re due a fair profit for their investment, but to allow them to run rampant on the pockets of our poor, and the pockets of those struggling churches and schools that are trying to maintain a sense of dignity in these perilous times that we’re living in — these are uncertain days of whether we’re going to have a job or not have a job. This is the time to take a stand."
John Erlinghauser from AARP said the worst aspect of the rate request is that it involves fixed fees, which means that people cannot avoid it by conserving electricity. "People who are on a fixed income," he said, "the elderly, people aged 65 and older, pay a more disproportionate amount of their annual income for utilities than any other population: absolute fact. When you take a fixed charge, and you increase it by an average of $114 a year, the biggest disproportionate impact is on the elderly and low-income -- and that’s before you turn on a single light bulb."
The rate request is currently under review by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.
