An Energy Policy Milestone For Connecticut

Connecticut has a reputation for being a pricey state, which seems to go along with our reputation for high salaries and expensive tastes. This caricature of privileged repute, of course, does not stand up outside a few exclusive precincts in lower Fairfield County. There is no denying, however, that Connecticut is an expensive place to live, and increasingly it is becoming an expensive place to do business — too expensive. This week, lawmakers in Hartford took a big step toward reducing the costs of economic survival for both residents and businesses by enacting a bipartisan energy bill that promises to transform the way the state procures and regulates electricity.

Electricity costs more in Connecticut than any other state, except Hawaii, and when virtually every component of our economy depends on affordable energy, our monthly electric bills are a handicap we can ill-afford as we position ourselves to compete our way out of our current economic slump.

In a remarkably cooperative effort in the legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee, with the encouragement and assistance of the measure’s main sponsor, Governor Dannel P. Malloy, the legislation merges the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Public Utility Control, bringing greater coordination and focus to state energy policy and efficiency initiatives. The new agency, to be known as the Department of Energy and Environment Protection, will be charged with assessing the state’s future demands for electricity and establishing a plan for utilities to follow in meeting that demand. In addition, the new law empowers a state procurement officer to work with utilities to secure power from the regional grid at better rates and to review market rules set by ISO-New England, the region’s grid operator, that have driven up costs in Connecticut.

The legislation enhances the state’s renewable energy credit system to include a commercial solar program as well as other tangible incentives for the development and use of clean and renewable energy, including wind and solar. The law also eases restrictions on Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating that have prevented them from generating electricity since 1999. These initiatives should help increase supply and drive down prices.

All in all, there was too much good sense in this energy bill for there to be any credible opposition. When it passed without dissent in the State Senate on Monday, senators on both sides of the aisle were left awkwardly complimenting each other for their work on the bill. Industry leaders described the legislation as “balanced,” presenting a rare united front of public and private forces resolved to bring Connecticut’s energy policy from endangered to enlightened — and not a minute too soon.