More than 100,000 Connecticut consumers could soon see a refund on their electric bills if they used a third-party electric supplier.
Over 300,000 Connecticut customers get their power through a third-party supplier, opting out of the standard offer from utilities Eversource and United Illuminating. Instead, they choose to shop for their own licensed supplier.
State regulators said between 2016 and 2019, nearly two dozen of these suppliers failed to properly disclose pricing information for future bills, in violation of state law.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) said Tuesday that led to more than 100,000 consumers paying rates higher than what they were promised.
Taren O’Connor, a spokesperson for PURA, said regulators began their review of third-party suppliers in 2018.
In an email, she said it took time for the bill credits to process “due to the need to determine the best method of effecting the credit and the need to review suppliers’ data to ensure the appropriate customers are receiving credits.”
Additionally, O’Connor said PURA had been in contact with suppliers since the investigation began and said the agency found errors in some of the numbers third-party suppliers submitted to the state. That required additional time to allow for resubmission and auditing.
In the coming months, the agency said affected customers should expect a letter from the offending supplier, followed by bill credits ranging anywhere from a few cents to hundreds of dollars.
The billing issue affects only customers of third-party electric suppliers. For UI, that’s just under 31% of all customers. It’s about 24% for Eversource. Residents who use the standard offer rate of United Illuminating and Eversource are not included.
