Letter to Ms. Marissa Gillett, Chair of the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection - In Letter To Pura, Murphy, Blumenthal Object To Eversource And United Illuminating Plan To Move Forward With Utility Shutoffs Amid The COVID-19 Pandemic

Letter

Dear Ms. Gillett:
Thank you for the opportunity to provide an objection to the Office of Education, Outreach and
Enforcement's (EOE) Motion to Approve Eversource's Termination Procedures and EOE's
Motion to Approve The Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation, The Southern Connecticut Gas
Company, and the United Illuminating Company's (collectively Avangrid) Termination
Procedures.
We join the Governor and the Attorney General in urging PURA to deny Eversource's and
Avangrid's ("Companies") motions to proceed with terminations because of the need to extend
the utility shutoff moratorium given the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the past two years, PURA has designed a series of affordable payment plans to ensure that
no Connecticut resident faces termination of service because of an inability to pay their utility
bill. These plans range from the "Below Budget Worksheet Program" for recipients of state and
federal means-tested benefits to the COVID-19 Payment Plan for residents over 60 percent of
state median income.
The Companies are required to make these programs available to any customer expressing
concerns with the ability to pay their utility bill. We have previously written to express concerns
with the Companies' failures to comply with PURA orders regarding the requirement to use
plain and direct language to describe affordable payment programs and the termination process --
issues that PURA and our offices have been raising since these proceedings began.
We remain concerned that these programs are still not clearly articulated in the Companies'
communications to customers. Given the enormous financial impact of the pandemic, it is critical
that Connecticut residents have clear and direct information about existing programs.
There must be a coherent flow of information to inform customers about payment arrangements
and available payment options should their service be threatened with termination. We write to
urge that PURA bar the companies from utility terminations until the companies have faithfully
and consistently complied with PURA's orders.
Sincerely

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