Eversource and United Illuminating customers can expect lower electricity rates for standard service starting July 1, company representatives announced this week.
Standard service rates for July 1 will be announced in mid-May.
In addition, UI President and CEO Frank Reynolds said that the company will also continue to call for reform of the New England energy market, which he said has serious structural issues that were the reason for price increases this past winter.
“At the same time, we continue to focus on doing everything we can to help our customers, including holding customer engagement events throughout our service territory, and making sure customers know about the programs we offer to help them manage their bill,” Reynolds said through a prepared statement.
Eversource officials said the historic highs in New England last year were because of natural gas supply constraints due to, in part, the war in Ukraine, but now energy supply prices are in a downward trend.
Eversource Vice President of Energy Supply James Daly said that some customers may still struggle with the high costs, and suggested they make sure to reach out to the company so they can find the right financial programs that can help, or to figure out a payment plan.
But there still may be market volatility and higher supply costs next winter. Residents can control certain factors to save money on their bills.
“As we head into the summer months, we advise our residential and commercial customers to take stock of their usage and how it can increase significantly when we run fans and air conditioners to stay cool, while also using other appliances,” said Penni Conner, Eversource Executive Vice President of Customer Experience and Energy Strategy, in a prepared release.
Conner said Eversource will schedule in-person events and webinars to help customers save money.
“We want these important conversations to continue in the months ahead of the next heating season, which we expect to be similar to the most recent one when it comes to high energy supply costs and encourage our customers to continue engaging with us across these multi-channel opportunities,” she said.
Eversource also stressed that it only charges customers what the company pays generators for producing electricity and that the company does not earn a profit on the cost of electricity.
UI officials said they have enrolled more than 300 customers in bill management programs, and that the company has worked with local organizations such as Operation Fuel to disperse information about financial aid programs so more people take advantage.
Connecticut also has the EnergizeCT rate board, which is a tool that helps residential and business electricity customers find licensed third-party suppliers and registered aggregators rather than pay the standard service rates from Eversource and United Illuminating
Third-party suppliers have, as of late, been a good option for ratepayers.
According to a recent consumer alert issued by the OCC, for the rolling year of February 2022 through January 2023, residential consumers who chose a third-party – also called “retail” – supplier saved $23.7 million more than the Standard Offer. However, the report also stated that customers using third-party suppliers had overpaid by more than $285 million since January 2015.
