RESA calls for freedom to choose retail electric supplier

The Retail Energy Supply Association (RESA) has testified before the Connecticut General Assembly to oppose three bills that combined will eliminate a customer’s right to choose their energy supplier.

The Association also mentioned that the bills would also establish an electric procurement structure that will shift cost responsibility from private investors to Connecticut ratepayers.

Specifically, RESA members testified in opposition to: (1) H.B. 6507, which would repeal customer choice for Connecticut residential and business customers with maximum demands below 500 kilowatts effective January 1, 2010; (2) H.B. 6510, which would establish a state power authority; and (3) H.B. 6512, which would replace the customer choice structure repealed by H.B. 6507 with a "managed portfolio" electric procurement structure heavily dependent on ratepayer-backed medium-term and long-term contracts.

Describing the adoption of some of the bills as a backward step for Connecticut energy customers, Jay Kooper, President of RESA, said, “What’s more detrimental is the plan to replace the current structure with a failed one-size-fits-all electric procurement structure that, in the past, has exposed Connecticut ratepayers to billions of dollars in stranded costs stemming from utility investment decisions that have done little to contain costs or improve electric system reliability.”