Talking about electricity rates in Connecticut will get most people’s blood boiling.  Our Clean & Renewable Energy Partners broker clean and renewable energy electricity options with responsibility and integrity, and proper pricing modules.  They found that offering a green power options are cheaper than the outlandish prices we’re currently paying.  Since Connecticut is a deregulated state, you the consumer have complete and total power whom you wish to purchase your energy from.

Why Connecticut is so topsy-turvy with our wild electric pricing structure?

In 1999, the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund (CEEF) was created to address Connecticut’s increasing energy needs and rising energy costs, while also educating consumers on how to use energy more wisely.

Today, as part of that initiative, CL&P administers energy efficiency programs that the CEEF supports. Connecticut continually receives top national rankings in the annual Energy Efficiency Scorecard for conservation and load management.

National deregulation, also commonly referred to as electric restructuring, began in the early 1990s. However, its roots date back to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of 1978. This act allowed non-utility companies to build power generating facilities, laying the groundwork for deregulation as we know it today.

Then, in 1992 the U.S. Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, removing many obstacles faced by companies trying to break into the energy generation market. Legislators felt that the Act would promote more competition in the market for power generation and would result in overall lower prices for customers.

In 1998, Connecticut began to deregulate when the state legislature passed a law to restructure the electric utility into three divisions: generation, transmission and distribution. On January 1, 2000, that law went into effect and CL&P no longer controlled the generation of power, as independent companies took ownership over the power plants.

So what does this mean for your electric bill?

Despite the loss of their generation ownership, CL&P and Northeast Utilities continued to oversee transmission and distribution through their substation facilities and power lines creating an unfair pricing advantage, and exceedingly high electrical rates for CT consumers.

As of February 2008 Connecticut had the second highest electric rates in the country, an average of 16.4 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to a national averate of 9.0 cents.  Connecticut has had relatively high rates for some time, with the 3rd highest rates in the country as of November 2006, and the 4th highest in 1998.