The Sierra Club of Connecticut, an environmentalist group, is pressuring lawmakers into opposing efforts to transfer the Public Benefits Charge (PBC) — which passes along to consumers the costs of the government mandates imposed on power companies for a variety of state energy policies — to the General Fund, where it would face greater public scrutiny.
The PBC promotes “clean” energy goals, as well as grid reliability and electric vehicle (EV) charger rebates. Apart from standard service charges provided by power companies, this fee is the second highest driver behind state residents’ skyrocketing electric bills, which sparked outrage as ratepayers saw it jump by nearly $48 for Eversource customers and $34 for UI customers this past July. In response, a petition to eliminate the PBC — started by Monroe resident Scott Pearson — garnered nearly 70,000 signatures, which he delivered to Gov. Ned Lamont’s office, Oct. 24, 2024.
In December, the Sierra Club issued a call to action urging supporters to flood members of the Energy and Technology Committee with calls, and provided a pre-written script instructing the committee to oppose what they labeled the “terrible Republican proposal to end the public benefit charges.” Their stated goal is to have “200 phone calls made before the start of the legislative session. (After that, we may start up again.)”
The Sierra Club claims these fees “rightfully belong on electricity bills” because they “benefit the electric system,” but what they fail to mention is how these charges burden families already grappling with some of the highest electricity rates in the country.
The Republican plan seeks to shift this charge to the state’s General Fund. This move would bring these initiatives into the open, forcing them to compete for funding like any other state program. Without this shift to the General Fund, ratepayers will be stuck with sky-high electric bills and remain vulnerable to future increases.
Connecticut residents are being saddled with what Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich) calls a “hidden tax” buried in their electric bills, funding over 40 government-mandated programs at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
For the average household, this amounts to around $500 per year, all without public oversight or accountability. In a statement to Yankee Institute on Jan. 6, Sen. Fazio criticized the lack of transparency, saying, “These programs are funded automatically through the hidden public benefits tax in your electric bill every single month, without anyone getting to question it, without those programs having to be actively examined and renewed by public officials.”
Sen. Fazio highlighted contradictions within these programs, such as the state’s subsidy of up to $1,000 for private electric vehicle chargers. He described it as “a regressive tax on low-income people who have to pay a higher electric bill for upper-income, wealthy purchasers of electric vehicles,” and noted it “increases demand and reduces resiliency in the electric grid.”
While acknowledging that some programs, like energy efficiency subsidies, may theoretically improve grid resiliency, Sen. Fazio argued that all such spending should be subject to legislative oversight. “If advocates are confident that these programs can withstand public examination of their costs and benefits, then they should have no problem with them being examined and funded through the budgetary process,” he told Yankee Institute.
But transparency doesn’t seem to be a priority for the Sierra Club. They’re determined to keep these hidden fees buried in electric bills, forcing ratepayers — not taxpayers — to shoulder the financial burden of their costly initiatives.
Rather than scaling back, they’re pushing to expand their slate of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and social programs, a move that would drive the PBC even higher, further squeezing ratepayers.
The Sierra Club and its allies are fighting to keep a system that forces Connecticut families to pay for their expensive agenda through hidden fees on utility bills. These programs avoid legislative oversight, allowing costly initiatives to escape accountability while placing an unfair burden on ratepayers. With electric bills rising, it’s clear the Sierra Club cares more about protecting its pet projects than providing relief for hardworking families. Lawmakers must decide whether to stand with special interest groups or demand transparency and fairness for the people footing the bill.
