Connecticut’s high electricity rates are expected to be front and center in the 2026 governor’s race and Republican candidate Ryan Fazio called Monday for reducing rates by 20% by eliminating certain charges on customers’ bills.
Saying rates are too high, Fazio unveiled a six-point plan related to the “public benefits” charges on electric bills that have been debated at the state Capitol and across the state as ratepayers complain about their bills. Fazio has pushed the idea as his signature issue in the battle for governor, while Gov. Ned Lamont says that shifting the charges to the $27 billion annual state budget is simply a shell game that switches the payments from ratepayers to taxpayers.
But Fazio said Monday that many of the programs should be eliminated altogether. He proposes ending subsidies for electric vehicle chargers and heap pump installations, along with renewable energy projects such as long-term subsidized contracts for solar power.
“Connecticut’s electricity rates are too damn high,” Fazio said. “Our utility bills should not be a piggy bank for politicians in Hartford to be spending on all their politically and ideologically preferred programs. … We should cut special ratepayer subsidies for inefficient renewable energy products. We have so many different programs embedded in our public benefits that provide special subsidies to private companies producing different forms of politically preferred energy, especially solar and wind, that can sometimes cost eight times the wholesale market rate for electricity. That has the effect of increasing our public benefits charges in our electric bills by hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Lamont has pushed back on the idea several times during recent public appearances.
“The public benefits charge is how we pay for nuclear power and wind power,” Lamont told mayors and first selectmen last week at a meeting of the Council of Small Towns. “The real answer is not more subsidies, but supply and demand. … I’m trying to reduce demand through energy efficiency programs.”
Later, Lamont used the analogy that he had enjoyed his lunch but never expected it to be free.
“There is no free electricity,” Lamont said. “How do you want to pay for the nuclear power? It’s not free.”
Fazio’s plan was hammered by his chief Republican rival in the governor’s race, former New Britain mayor Erin Stewart, whose chief campaign adviser had worked with Fazio until December as the Senate Republican chief of staff.
“With all the excitement of a bowl of reheated soup, Fazio has offered a stale energy plan identical to the one Senate Republicans peddled over the past three years,” said John Healey, who now works for Stewart. “Limiting state energy increases to 100% above market rate isn’t exactly bold conservative thinking. All Republicans support expanding natural gas flow into Connecticut. All Republicans support immediately ending the public benefits charge. Yet it was Fazio who last year authored the bill that provided no relief and instead put 20% of those charges on the state’s credit card and called it savings.”
Healey added, “Connecticut needs more than robotic remedies. Mayor Stewart knows we need increased capacity anchored by expanded nuclear and natural gas generation to create the reliability and affordability residents and businesses deserve.”
As a political candidate, Fazio held a press conference in a downtown Hartford hotel on Main Street Monday because candidates are not supposed to hold news conferences on political topics at the state Capitol complex. Some insiders questioned how Republican candidate Betsy McCaughey was able to hold a recent press conference at the Capitol complex on her proposal to eliminate the state income tax.
Fazio appeared with state Rep. Tracy Marra of Darien, who serves as the ranking House Republican on the legislature’s energy and technology committee. Based on her attendance at the event, Marra was asked if she was running for lieutenant governor. She said she was not. When asked by The Courant if she was running for re-election for her seat in the state House of Representatives, she responded, “I have not announced yet.”
Marra added, “It is no surprise … that Ryan Fazio will be able to pick whoever he wants to run as lieutenant governor.”
As part of his six-point plan, Fazio called for expanding natural gas in Connecticut through a pipeline from Pennsylvania that would lead to lower costs.
“If New York blocks proposals with our support, take legal action against New York and work with the federal government to protect our state interests under the Interstate Commerce Clause,” Fazio said.
When asked if wind power has failed because the price is too high, Fazio responded, “Yes, absolutely. … It’s just simply unaffordable. … I opposed, from the onset, the signing of Revolution Wind because it’s such a significant subsidy on the backs of ratepayers.”
President Donald J. Trump has twice issued stop-work orders for the Revolution Wind project, which includes a series of wind turbines that are being installed off the coasts of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Federal judges have twice ruled against Trump, and the project is currently proceeding.
When asked if he wants to see the wind project start working since it is nearly complete, Fazio said, “I don’t have a firm position because it’s a little less expensive than some of the other off-shore wind projects, but it’s still more costly than the market rate for electricity. … There is a strong argument on either side. It’s not such a cut-and-dried case.”
After learning about Fazio’s proposal Monday, Republican candidate Betsy McCaughey of Greenwich said, “All good ideas. Why haven’t these things been done?”
But state Democratic chairman Roberto Alves was not impressed.
“Ryan Fazio’s proposal isn’t a serious solution,” Alves said. “It’s a collection of reckless ideas that would destabilize our energy grid and drive up costs.”
Bond Commission vote
After legislators debated for a full year over removing some of the public charges, the State Bond Commission voted last summer to remove some of the charges in less than five minutes.
In two votes with little discussion, the commission voted 10-0 to pay for the charges by borrowing $155 million instead of having consumers pay for the totals on their monthly bills. Now taxpayers, rather than ratepayers, will pick up the tab. Fazio was among the 10 commission members who voted in favor.
After the vote, Stewart said that it would eventually cost taxpayers more money due to the interest costs from the borrowed money and that borrowing was not the answer.
Asked Monday about Stewart’s comments, Fazio said, “It’s not the answer. It’s absolutely not the answer, and I’ve said that repeatedly. And that’s why Tracy [Marra] and I negotiated it down as much as we could. … It is not a long-term solution.”
Regarding his vote as a member of the bond commission, Fazio said, “It was part of a package. … It was justifiable in this case — narrowly — because it was bonding used to fund one-time costs.”
Christopher Keating can be reached at [email protected]