CT Supreme Court Limits Eversource Storm Cost Recovery for Customers

The Connecticut Supreme Court has weighed in on a heated dispute between Eversource Energy and its customers over storm-related restoration costs. At the heart of it: when can the company recover those costs under a 2018 settlement with state regulators?

This case revolves around repairs to Eversource’s distribution network after five big storms hit between October 2017 and May 2018. The main question? Should customers get charged right away, or only after a future rate case? The answer isn’t clear yet, and folks from Hartford to Groton are left wondering what’s next.

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Ruling details and immediate implications

The court said the lower court made a mistake by just accepting PURA’s stance that recovery should be delayed. Instead, the justices insisted on interpreting the settlement for themselves.

They found the agreement wasn’t clear or unambiguous about when Eversource could start charging ratepayers for capital costs. Because the language is ambiguous, the Supreme Court reversed the earlier decision and sent it back for more work to figure out what the settlement actually means.

Ambiguity in the 2018 PURA settlement

Everything hinges on how the settlement is worded, not on who’s right. PURA wants Eversource to wait until its next electric rate case before charging customers for storm expenses. Eversource, on the other hand, insists it should recover costs immediately under the deal.

With the language so murky, the justices kicked the case back to the lower court to hash out what the ambiguity means for timing and recovery methods. The ruling doesn’t decide the final amount or who pays what, but it does shape how courts will read the settlement’s text from here on out.

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For now, customers are left in limbo about when or how they’ll see charges for restoration work after those storms. The court stressed that the settlement’s wording is ambiguous, so neither side can claim victory just yet.

Background: storms, costs, and regulatory context

From October 2017 through May 2018, Connecticut got walloped by five severe storms. These storms forced major repairs to the electric grid.

Eversource argued it should recover the cost of these repairs from customers immediately, based on a 2018 settlement with PURA. But PURA, which regulates utility rates in Connecticut, said the timing should wait for Eversource’s next rate case—a process that reviews the utility’s overall finances before passing costs to customers.

This case affects cities and towns all over Connecticut. Ratepayers in places like Hartford, New Haven, Stamford, Bridgeport, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury, and Greenwich could feel the impact, depending on how courts and regulators interpret these financial rules after major outages.

What happens next and potential impact on residents

The ruling sends the case back to the lower court. What happens now depends on how the judge reads the settlement’s vague language and whether any part of the 2018 deal lets Eversource recover money right away.

We could see new briefs, more hearings, or maybe even a whole new agreement between Eversource and PURA before anyone pays out anything outside the usual rate case. Right now, residents in towns like New London, Middletown, Norwich, Groton, and East Hartford just have to wait and see what happens with storm repair charges.

Analysts say this decision highlights a bigger regulatory issue: when contracts or settlements aren’t clear, courts might jump in to figure things out instead of just letting regulators decide. That can change how utilities try to recover costs in the future.

People in cities like Bridgeport and New Britain are watching for any hints about their bills and what kind of precedent this might set. Will Connecticut utilities find a better balance between reliability and affordability? That’s the question on a lot of minds.

The Court’s move leaves plenty of uncertainty about how and when Eversource might recover storm-related costs. Eversource officials haven’t said much yet. But local leaders in places like Waterbury are definitely paying attention, wondering if their residents will end up paying sooner rather than later.

This case really shows the ongoing struggle here in Connecticut: keeping the lights on after wild weather, but also making sure electric bills don’t spiral out of control. There’s no easy answer, and for now, everyone’s in a bit of a holding pattern.

Here is the source article for this story: CT Supreme Court rules on Eversource customers’ costs related to string of brutal storms

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