energy

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong disclosed Thursday that his office is investigating the quasi-public Connecticut Port Authority and a more than $500,000 fee it paid to a consultant.

Congress included the new tax credit in December’s COVID-19 stimulus bill, offering 26 percent off the cost of installing high-efficiency wood boilers.

New England’s wood heat industry is hoping a new tax credit and marketing campaign can convince more homeowners to buy a high-efficiency wood boiler.

Getting Connecticut to a zero-carbon electric supply is attainable by 2040, but it will require significant regional reforms, according to a new assessment of the state’s future energy needs. 

A decision by federal regulators to throw out a rule that has helped emerging technologies gain a foothold on New England’s electric grid will put the region’s energy storage industry in jeopardy, according to advocates.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week ordered New England’s grid operator to end a rule that has allowed new bidders in its capacity market to lock in their prices for up to seven years.

State utility regulators ordered a comprehensive overhaul Wednesday of Connecticut’s rate-setting process while also affirming that a key element of electric rates will remain fixed through May 1.

The new process unanimously approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority also will tighten the expenses Eversource and United Illuminating can recoup from their customers going forward.

One of the most comprehensive studies to date on how solar projects affect housing values suggests that siting large arrays on suburban greenspace can harm home values within a 1-mile radius. 

Lorenzo Wyatt owns a Connecticut energy-efficiency contracting business focused almost exclusively on low-income residents — about 80 percent of his customers are eligible for no-cost energy savings services through the state’s residential efficiency programs.

Connecticut and four other New England states fired the first salvo Thursday in a campaign to reform the region’s complex wholesale electric market – and the unaccountable and largely opaque governance of its operator, ISO New England.

Partisanship took a holiday Wednesday as the House of Representatives confirmed judicial nominations, passed bills and bid farewell to leaders of both parties in its last scheduled meeting before a new legislature takes office in January.

A proposal buried at the end of Connecticut’s so-called “take back our grid” legislation would potentially make utilities compete for control of the energy efficiency programs they’ve operated for more than 20 years. 

And that has some lawmakers and contractors asking: Why?

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced Monday the state is taking on one of the world’s biggest oil companies, suing ExxonMobil for allegedly lying to consumers about climate change. At a news conference in New Haven, Tong contended the company has known for the past 70 years that its products were contributing to climate change.

The new board overseeing Connecticut’s electric vehicle rebate program is grappling with how best to restructure the program to incorporate used vehicles and attract more low- to moderate-income purchasers.

In New England, offshore wind developers and the fishing industry continue to grapple with questions over potential impacts on the region’s valuable fisheries.

A recent European study not only offers good news on that front, it also provides a template for how the two industries can work together.

This story was updated at 4:01 p.m.

Eversource Energy gave skeptical lawmakers a forceful rebuttal Thursday of the widespread complaints that the electric utility failed to prepare for Tropical Storm Isaias – then bungled the restoration of power in Connecticut’s worst blackout in nearly a decade.

The arcane world of energy surcharges dominated a virtual conference call Monday, as hundreds of participants watched a public hearing between Eversource and state regulators. 

At issue was a controversial rate increase implemented shortly before Tropical Storm Isaias knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of Eversource customers.

The widespread and prolonged power outages that trailed Tropical Storm Isaias this month have added urgency to what was already a fast and furious effort to begin modernizing Connecticut’s electric grid.

As hundreds of thousands of Connecticut residents adjusted to life without power last week, Gov. Ned Lamont praised the state’s COVID-19 statistics, pointing to days without recorded deaths and a low positivity rate among test results.

It’s now been three days since many Connecticut residents and businesses lost power in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Isaias. And leaders of local municipalities are increasingly frustrated with power companies keeping them in the dark – in more ways than one.

Eversource Energy’s chairman and chief executive, Jim Judge, was jubilant in a message to shareholders in March. Based on returns to investors and a seeming newfound immunity to protracted blackouts, Judge assured them the company was coming off its “most successful year ever.” 

Utility regulators say they will consider whether civil penalties should be applied if Connecticut’s electric companies are found to have botched the response to Tropical Storm Isaias. The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority Thursday outlined the scope of its investigation into the response that was requested by Gov. Ned Lamont. 

As Connecticut’s utilities struggle to address a million power outages across the state, there’s no official assessment yet as to when they might be able to restore electricity to most homes. And now state regulators have announced an investigation into whether the state’s largest power company, Eversource, underestimated the threat posed by Tropical Storm Isaias.

Isaias ripped through the state Tuesday with wind speeds gusting to 70 mph, felling trees and bringing down power lines in almost every town. 

More than three years after the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) selected three shared solar projects for a small pilot program, only one of those projects is operational.

The other two haven’t even started construction. 

The delicate balancing act of anticipating electric demand before and during the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown electricity suppliers, regulators and customers an unwelcome surprise this summer: massive jumps on electric bills. 

Proposals for large solar facilities routinely come under scrutiny for their potential to cause erosion and runoff, but for property owners who live nearby, concerns about the impact on their home values often loom just as large. 

If you rent or can’t put solar panels on your roof but you want to support solar energy, you can subscribe to what’s called “shared solar” and get a credit to lower your electric bill. But regulators in Connecticut say the state’s two biggest electric utilities are dragging their feet on developing rules for the program.

Utilities — not solar developers — will be tasked with signing up lower-income customers under final rules for a Connecticut shared solar program.

The model, recently adopted by state regulators, is meant to simplify the subscription process and better protect consumers while improving access to solar savings for low- to moderate-income households.