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HARTFORD, CT - Governor Ned Lamont On July 25 announced that he has scheduled the State Bond Commission to vote next week on the release of $155 million in state bond funding that will be used to offset certain public benefits charges on electric bills, delivering consumers some relief on these costs.
“Using state bond funding as a means of reducing public benefits charges is one action we can take to provide some savings on consumers’ electric bills, but I must stress that this is only one step in the effort to make energy rates more affordable and we need to do more to address the actual costs of generating and delivering electricity,” said Governor Lamont, who serves as chairman of the State Bond Commission. “I am appreciative of the bipartisan legislators in the General Assembly whose collaboration during the recent legislative session made this step possible. Going forward, I believe there is even more that we can do to lower electric bills, and I am encouraged that we can continue this cooperative effort and develop policies that will produce additional savings for consumers. I am urging the Bond Commission members to vote in favor of approving these allocations.”
Public benefits are the portion of electric bills that are used to pay for a variety of initiatives related to the purchase and distribution of electricity, including the procurement of electricity from specific power plants, energy efficiency and electrification programs, assistance for low-income customers, and the costs associated with the operations of ISO-New England, the nonprofit that oversees the regional grid.
Governor Lamont is requesting the State Bond Commission release $125 million in bonding that will be used to reduce the costs associated with hardship protection programs for low-income customers who are having difficulties paying for their electric bills, and $30 million that will be used to reduce the costs associated with the electric vehicle charging program that funds the infrastructure to integrate electric vehicles and related technologies into the electric grid.
The average customer savings generated by these allocations are still being calculated, however it is anticipated that customers will see a reduction in a range of around approximately $10 per month in the public benefits portion of their bills, depending on the utility, customer type, and usage. The reductions will likely take effect around September 2025 and continue for several months into 2026. Another round of state bond funding is expected to be released in 2026 that will enable a second round of reductions in public benefits charges to take effect after this initial round expires, enabling this savings to continue into at least the first several months of 2027.
Using state bond funding to cover public benefits was made possible by the recent enactment of Public Act 25-173, the omnibus energy affordability legislation that Governor Lamont developed in collaboration with Democratic and Republican lawmakers containing several actions to reduce electric bills. The governor signed that legislation earlier this month.
The customer savings that will be achieved by this state bond funding comes in addition to the 25% reduction in public benefits charges that the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) approved in the May 2025 rate adjustment mechanism, as well as the 13% reduction in supply rates for Eversource customers and 14% reduction in supply rates for United Illuminating customers that went into effect on July 1, 2025.
The State Bond Commission will vote on these allocations during a meeting that will be held on Friday, August 1, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. in Room 1E of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.