Connecticut Water Company has reinstated discounts for hundreds of low-income customers after it mistakenly removed them from its assistance program.
The utility said last month that it misinterpreted a new state law and implemented tighter eligibility requirements before it was required.
After putting the change into effect, it removed 939 customers from the program who should have remained eligible, according to a report Connecticut Water filed with a state board last week.
Connecticut Public discovered the error in January while reporting on a significant drop in the number of households participating in the program.
“We obviously regret that this error happened,” said Michelle Royce Williams, the company's vice president of customer experience. “We definitely wanted to take accountability.”
Connecticut Water serves more than 100,000 customers in 60 Connecticut communities. The company is part of H2O America, a national investor-owned utility network.
Through its Water Rate Assistance Program, the utility offers water bill assistance for households earning up to 60% of the state’s median income.
Participants are currently required to reverify their eligibility every two years. That cycle is set to change under a comprehensive energy bill passed last year. It requires income verification every 12 months for assistance programs approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.
According to Williams, Connecticut Water believed it needed to implement the annual verification process by July 2025, the bill's effective date. However, previous reporting by Connecticut Public showed the company missed a component of the law that spared established assistance programs from altering their rules until their next rate case.
The Energy and Technology Committee drafted the bill. Democratic Sen. Norm Needleman, its co-chair, said it's possible the language was unclear. Many laws end up needing further clarification, Needleman said.
“We try to get a lot done in a short amount of time,” he said. “A little more time would provide a little more clarity and certainly more legislative intent.”
Connecticut Water has since rolled back the change. It automatically re-enrolled 873 households in the program because their two-year participation period has not expired.
The utility also provided credits totaling more than $45,000 to customers who were dropped in error in the fall after the program’s income reverification policy was abruptly changed.
“Most people received one bill without the discount, and then on their next bill would have received a credit for the missing discount from the previous bill, and then also their normal discount,” Williams said.
An additional 66 households were not automatically re-enrolled because they had passed the original deadline. Those households still received retroactive bill credits.
Williams said the company called each to request they reverify their income and return to the program if eligible.
“Many of them were pleased with the resolution,” she said.
Connecticut Water also sent written notices to every impacted household with an explanation of the mistake, Williams said.
Needleman applauded the company’s course of action.
“They did respond the way I would want them to,” he said. “I think they did a very good job trying to fix it.”
As of last June — shortly before the change went into effect — 2,341 customers participated in the program. By October, enrollment was down by more than half. The number has since rebounded to nearly 2,100 customers after the utility implemented the fixes.
