Connecticut’s Competitive Market: A Legislative Update

The Energy and Technology Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly wrapped up its work last week. And depending on where you sit, it either went out with a bang or a thud.  While the committee has a relatively strong track record of passing productive energy legislation into law, the constant swirl of well-intentioned but troubling bills being passed out of committee and bounced around is an old habit that won’t die.

The committee passed a windfall profits tax on electricity generators earning what is deemed to be an excess profit; a public power authority (by a different name) which would be given broad procurement responsibility and the ability to own generation, and a massive ratepayer-funded investment in solar technology.  Each of these proposals comes with incredible risks to Connecticut consumers and none of them would reduce rates already among the highest electricity in the continental U.S. 

And while all of this is troubling news for the market forces that have created strong retail and wholesale competition in Connecticut, there are still opportunities for innovation to flourish.  Specifically, the committee passed legislation that would create a financing mechanism for small business and residential customers to install energy efficiency and renewable technologies with little or no up-front investment. 

Many of the options available to residential and small business customers do not make fiscal sense, but the ability to provide low-cost financing for these installations means reducing our reliance on old, inefficient power plants and reducing demand. This will create jobs in Connecticut by empowering consumers to determine their dollars are invested in the electric system in a way that allows them to benefit economically. 

Creating green jobs through market-based mechanisms while supporting the environment and reducing costs for ratepayers are all achievable.  But not through the impractical and ideological bills that the committee passed which would create more taxes, new bureaucracies and higher electricity costs for consumers. Instead, market-based mechanisms will put renewables and energy efficiency within the reach of  small business and residential customers.

By Representative Sean Williams, Connecticut House of Representatives. Representative Williams serves the state's 68th legislative district, which encompasses the municipalities of Oakville, Watertown, and Woodbury.

Representative Sean Williams, Connecticut House of Representatives | March 31, 2010