Connecticut 2025 Regular Session Status: In Committee

SB 1194 — AN ACT CONCERNING POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS AND THE PROVISION OF STANDARD SERVICE TO ELECTRIC CUSTOMERS.

Last action — FILE NO. 534

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. 2
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed Senate
  4. 4
    Passed House
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill died with 2025 Regular Session. It reached “In Committee” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.

This bill is no longer active — its legislative session has ended, so there is no live prognosis. It would have to be reintroduced in the current session to move again.

Bill Text

What changed in the latest version

324 added · 59 removed

324 line(s) added, 59 removed.

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General Assembly Raised Bill No.
Senate General Assembly File No.
1194 January Session, 2025 LCO No.
534 January Session, 2025 Substitute Senate Bill No.
3845 Referred to Committee on ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY Introduced by:
1194 Senate, April 7, 2025 The Committee on Energy and Technology reported through SEN.
(ET) AN ACT CONCERNING THE REGULATION OF PUBLIC UTILITIES.
NEEDLEMAN of the 33rd Dist., Chairperson of the Committee on the part of the Senate, that the substitute bill ought to pass.
AN ACT CONCERNING POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS AND THE PROVISION OF STANDARD SERVICE TO ELECTRIC CUSTOMERS.
Subsection (a) of section 16-8 of the general statutes is repealed andthefollowing issubstituted inlieuthereof(EffectiveOctober 1, 2025):
Subsection (e) of section 16a-3m of the general statutes is repealed andthefollowing issubstituted inlieuthereof(EffectiveOctober 1, 2025):
(a) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority may, in [its] the authority's discretion, delegate [its] the authority's powers, in specific cases, to one or more of its [directors] utility commissioners or to a hearing officer to ascertain the facts and report thereon to the authority.
(e) (1) Any solicitation issued pursuant to subsection (d) of this section for zero-carbon electricity generating resources, including, but not limited to, eligible nuclear power generating facilities, hydropower, Class I renewable energy sources, as defined in section 16-1, and energy storage systems, shall be for resources delivered into the control area of the regional independent system operator, as defined in section 16-1, and any agreement entered into pursuant to subdivision (2) of this subsection shall be in the best interest of ratepayers.
The authority, or any [director thereof] utility commissioner, in the performance of [its] the authority's or the utility commissioner's duties or in connection with any hearing, or at the request of any person, corporation, company, [town, borough] municipality or association, may summon and examine, under oath, such witnesses, and may direct the production of, and examine or cause to be produced and examined, such books, records, vouchers, memoranda, documents, letters, contracts or other papers in relation to the affairs of any public service company or person involved in the transportation of gas, as such terms LCO No.
If the commissioner finds proposals received pursuant to such solicitations to be in the best sSB1194 / File No.
3845 1 of 3 Raised Bill No.
534 1 sSB1194 File No.
1194 are defined in section 16-280a, as [it] the authority or the utility commissioner may find advisable, and shall have the same powers in reference thereto as are vested in magistrates taking depositions.
534 interest of ratepayers, the commissioner may select any such proposal or proposals, provided (A) the total annual energy output of any proposals selected, in the aggregate, shall be not more than twelve million megawatt hours of electricity, (B) any agreement entered into pursuant to this subdivision with an eligible nuclear power generating facility or hydropower shall be for a period of not less than three years and not more than ten years, and (C) any agreement entered into pursuant to this subdivision with Class I renewable energy sources, as defined in section 16-1, and energy storage systems shall be for a period of not more than twenty years.
If any witness objects to testifying or to producing any book or paper on the ground that such testimony, book or paper may tend to incriminate [him] such witness, and the authority directs such witness to testify or to produce such book or paper,and [he]such witnesscomplies,or if [he] such witness is compelled [so to do] to comply by order of court, [he] such witness shall not be prosecuted for any matter concerning which [he or she] such witness has so testified.
(2) If the commissioner has made the determination and finding pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection, the commissioner shall, on behalf of all customers of electric distribution companies, direct the electric distribution companies to enter into agreements for energy, capacity and any environmental attributes, or any combination thereof, from proposals submitted pursuant to this subdivision.
The fees of witnesses summoned by the authority to appear before [it] the authority underthe provisions of this section, and the fees for summoning witnesses shall be the same as in the Superior Court.
(3)(A) Any agreement enteredinto pursuant to subdivision (2) ofthis subsection shall be subject to review and approval by thePublic Utilities Regulatory Authority.
All such fees, together with any other expenses authorized by statute, the method of payment of which is not otherwise provided, shall, when taxed by the authority, be paid by the state, through the business office of the authority, in the same manner as court expenses.
The electric distribution company shall file an application for the approval of any such agreement with the authority.
The authority may designate in specific cases a hearing officer who may be a member of [its] the authority's technical stafforamemberoftheConnecticutBarengagedforthatpurposeunder a contract approved by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management to hold a hearing and make report thereon to the authority.
The authority's review shall commence upon the filing of the signed power purchase agreement with the authority.
A hearing officer so designated shall have the same powers as the authority, or any [director thereof] utility commissioner, to conduct a hearing, except that only a [director of the authority] utility commissioner shallhave thepower to grant immunity fromprosecution to any witness who objects to testifying or to producing any book or paper on the ground that such testimony, book or paper may tend to incriminate [him or her] such witness.
The authority shall approve agreements that it determines [(A)] (i) provide for the delivery of adequate and reliable products and services, for which there is a clear public need, at a just and reasonable price, [(B)] (ii) are prudent and cost effective, and [(C)] (iii) that the respondent to the solicitation has the technical, financial and managerial capabilities to perform pursuant to such agreement.
For any eligible nuclear power generating facility selected in any solicitation described in subsection (g) of this section, the authority shall require any such agreement to be conditioned upon the approval of such a power purchase agreement or other agreement for energy, capacity and any environmental attributes, or any combination thereof, with such eligible nuclear power generating facility, in at least two other states, by the applicable officials of such states or by electric sSB1194 / File No.
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534 utilities or other entities designated by the applicable officials of such states.
The authority shall issue a decision not later than one hundred eighty days after such filing.
If the authority does not issue a decision within one hundred eighty days after such filing, the agreement shall be deemed approved.
(B) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes or the procurement plan adopted pursuant to section 16-244m, as amended by this act, an electric distribution company may, in consultation with the procurement manager of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and the Office of Consumer Counsel, elect to use, for a duration of time established in consultation with the procurement manager, any portion of the energy, capacity and other products purchased by such company under any agreement for energy, capacity or any other electricity products approved by the authority pursuant to subparagraph (A) of subdivision (3) of this subsection, or under any other agreement approved by the authority, for the provision of standard service by such company if such company, in consultation with the procurement manager and the Office of Consumer Counsel, concludes such usage is in the best interest of standard service customers.
An electric distribution company that elects to use such energy, capacity or products in the provision of standard service shall seek approval from the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to incorporate any such agreement into standard service at the time such company submits standard service rates to the authority for approval.
The authority may establish reporting standards related to any determination of whether the use of such agreements is in the best interest of standard service customers.
(C) An electric distribution company that elects to use such energy, capacity or products in the provision of standard service shall, in consultation with the authority and the Office of Consumer Counsel, specify the (i) quantity of energy, capacity and any other products such company shall use to serve standard service customers, (ii) duration of such usage, and (iii) price for such energy, capacity and any other products that will be paid by standard service customers.
sSB1194 / File No.
534 3 sSB1194 File No.
534 (D) If any energy, capacity or other products purchased by such company under any such agreement are used to serve standard service customers, the cost of such energy, capacity or other products shall be paid by standard service customers.
(E) (i) The remaining net costs of any such agreement that are not associated with the provision of standard service, including costs incurred by the electric distribution company under the agreement and reasonable costs incurred by the electric distribution company in connection with the agreement, shall be recovered on a timely basis through a nonbypassable fully reconciling component of electric rates for all customers of the electric distribution company, [.
Any] and (ii) any net revenues from the sale of products purchased in accordance with long-term contracts entered into pursuant to this subsection, or pursuant to any other provision of the general statutes, that are not associated with the provision of standard service, shall be credited to customers through the same nonbypassable fully reconciling rate component for all customers of the contracting electric distribution company.
(F) No provision of this subdivision shall be construed to amend or alter the terms and conditions of any such agreement approved by the authority.
Sec.
2.
Subsections (a) and (b) of section 16-244m of the general statutes are repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2025):
(a) (1) On or before January 1, 2012, and annually thereafter, the procurement manager of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, in consultation with each electric distribution company, and others at the procurement manager's discretion, including, but not limited to, the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, a municipal energy cooperative established pursuant to chapter 101a, other than entities, individuals and companies or their affiliates potentially involved in bidding on standard service, shall develop a plan for the procurement of electric generation services and related wholesale sSB1194 / File No.
534 4 sSB1194 File No.
534 electricity market products that will enable each electric distribution company to manage a portfolio of contracts to reduce the average cost of standard service while maintaining standard service cost volatility within reasonable levels.
[Each Procurement Plan] The procurement plan (A) shall provide for the competitive solicitation for load-following electric service, [and] (B) may include a provision for the use of self- service by an electric distribution company under which such company may purchase all or any portion of the energy, capacity or other market products needed to serve such company's standard service load from applicable markets or other sources, and (C) may include any other contracts, including, but not limited to, contracts for generation or other electricity market products and financial contracts, and may provide for the use of varying lengths of contracts.
If such plan includes the purchase of full requirements contracts, it shall include an explanation of why such purchases are in the best interests of standard service customers.
(2) All reasonable costs associated with the development of the [Procurement Plan] procurement plan by the authority shall be recoverable through the assessment in section 16-49.
All electric distribution companies' reasonable costs associated with the development of the [Procurement Plan] procurement plan shall be recoverable through a reconciling bypassable component of the electric rates as determined by the authority.
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(b) (1) The procurement manager shall, not less than [quarterly] annually, prepare a written report on the implementation of the [Procurement Plan] procurement plan.
(2) If the procurement manager finds that an [interim] amendment to the [annual plan might] plan may substantially further the goals of reducing the cost or cost volatility of standard service, the procurement manager may petitionthe Public Utilities Regulatory Authority for such an [interim] amendment.
The [Public Utilities Regulatory Authority] authority shall provide notice of the proposed amendment to the Office of Consumer Counsel and the electric distribution companies.
The sSB1194 / File No.
534 5 sSB1194 File No.
534 Office of Consumer Counsel and the electric distribution companies shall have two business days from the date of such notice to request an uncontested proceeding and a technical meeting of the [Public Utilities Regulatory Authority] authority regarding the proposed amendment, [which] and the authority shall hold such proceeding and meeting, [shall occur] if requested.
[The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority] Aftersuchproceedingandsuchmeeting,ifrequested,theauthority may approve, modify or deny the proposed amendment.
[, with such approval, modification or denial following the technical meeting if one isrequested.ThePublicUtilitiesRegulatoryAuthority's]Theauthority's ruling on the proposed amendment shall occur [within] not more than three business days after the technical meeting, if [one] such meeting is requested, or [within] not more than three business days [of] after the expiration of the time for requesting a technical meeting if no technical meeting is requested.
The [Public Utilities Regulatory Authority] authority may maintain the confidentiality of the technical meeting to the full extent allowed by law.
(3) The authority may initiate an uncontested proceeding to amend the procurement plan from time to time.
Section 1 October 1, 2025 16-8(a) LCO No.
Section 1 October 1, 2025 16a-3m(e) Sec.
3845 2 of 3 Raised Bill No.
2 October 1, 2025 16-244m(a) and (b) Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
1194 Statement of Purpose:
In Section 1(e)(3)(D), "When" was changed to "If" for accuracy;
To revise a statute concerning the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.
and in Section 1(e)(3)(E), "any other general statute" was changed to "any other provision of the general statutes" for consistency with standard drafting conventions.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets.
ET Joint Favorable Subst.
Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.] LCO No.
sSB1194 / File No.
3845 3 of 3
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534 The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose.
In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge.
Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.
OFA Fiscal Note State Impact:
None Municipal Impact:
None Explanation The bill makes various procedural changes to the Public Utility Regulatory Authority (PURA) and the Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC), specifically involving energy or related products purchased under the previous zero-carbon procurement to provide standard service to customers.
This is not anticipated to result in a fiscal impact as both PURA and OCC have the staff and expertise necessary to implement the changes.
Rate Payer Impact The rate payer impact of the bill is indeterminate and would be dependent upon policy decisions made by the electric distribution companies (EDCs) and approval by PURA.
Under the bill, PURA, OCC and EDCs must consult to determine that the changes outlined within the bill are in the best interest of standard service customers.
This assumes that the decisions and policy changes would yield a savings to customers.
However, If PURA approves the energy or products for standard service, standard service customers must pay for their costs, which could result in increased rates.
The net impact would be dependent upon a variety of EDC decisions that are outside the immediate scope of the bill.
sSB1194 / File No.
534 7 sSB1194 File No.
534 The Out Years State Impact:
None Municipal Impact:
None sSB1194 / File No.
534 8 sSB1194 File No.
534 OLR Bill Analysis sSB 1194 AN ACT CONCERNING POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS AND THE PROVISION OF STANDARD SERVICE TO ELECTRIC CUSTOMERS.
SUMMARY This billallowselectric distributioncompanies (EDCs, i.e.Eversource and United Illuminating) to use energy or related products purchased under the previous zero-carbon procurement or any other approved agreement (presumably procurement agreements,see BACKGROUND) to provide standard service.
To do so, the EDC must consult with the Public Utility Regulatory Authority’s (PURA’s) procurement manager and Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC) and determine that it is in the best interest of standard service customers.
Under the bill, when an EDC seeks PURA’s approval for its standard service rates, as existing law requires, it must also seek approval to incorporate this energy or related product into the rate.
If PURA approves the energy or products for standard service, standard service customers must pay for their costs.
The bill also specifies that it does not amend or alter any agreements under the previous zero-carbon solicitation or other previous solicitations.
Current law requires EDCs to recover the agreement’s net costs through a nonbypassable, fully reconciling component of electric rates for all electric customers, and credit customers for the agreement’s net revenuesthroughthesameratecomponent.Thebillexcludesfromthese provisions any costs or revenues associated with standard service provision.
The bill additionally makes related changes to requirements for the standard service procurement plan that the procurement manager must sSB1194 / File No.
534 9 sSB1194 File No.
534 annually submit to PURA under existing law.
It allows the plan to include any market products (e.g., energy or capacity) the EDCs purchase if needed to self-service the company’s standard service load.
Separately, it also (1) requires the procurement manager to submit follow-up reports on the plan’s implementation at least annually, rather than quarterly as current law requires;
(2) specifies PURA may initiate uncontested proceedings to amend the plan from time to time;
and (3) makes minor and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
October 1, 2025 STANDARD SERVICE Standard service is the energy supply sold to electric customers who do not choose to buy electricity through a third-party energy supplier.
The EDCs buy electricity and other products to serve these customers througha processoverseenby PURA’sprocurement manager,theOCC, and other parties.
The bill allows EDCs, in consultation with the procurement manager and OCC, to elect to use any portion of the energy, capacity, and other energy products the company purchases under an agreement approved under the previous zero-carbon procurement or another PURA- approved procurement (see BACKGROUND).
EDCs that choose to do this must consult with PURA and the OCC and specify:
1.
the quantity of energy, capacity, or other energy products that the company will use for standard service;
2.
the time period during which they will use it (EDCs must establish this in consultation with the procurement manager);
and 3.
the price standard service customers must pay for the energy, capacity, or other energy products.
The bill authorizes PURA to establish reporting standards on any sSB1194 / File No.
534 10 sSB1194 File No.
534 determination of whether using these agreements is in standard service customers’ best interest.
BACKGROUND Previous Procurements Generally Since 2011, the legislature has periodically authorized the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to solicit and procure bids from generating facilities and require EDCs to enter power purchase agreements (PPAs) for energy, capacity, and environmental attributes, or any combination, from the selected proposals (e.g., PA 11-80, § 127;
PA 13-303, §§ 6 & 8;
PA 15-107;
PA 15- 113;
PA 17-144;
and PA 19-71).
In this time, DEEP has conducted at least nine procurements, resulting in PURA-approved contracts for grid-scale solar, offshore wind, and fuel cells, in addition to the PPAs described below.
Zero-Carbon Procurement (PA 17-3, June Special Session (JSS)) Among other things, PA 17-3, JSS, authorized DEEP and PURA to conduct a solicitation and procurement for bids from zero-carbon generation facilities.
DEEP selected a bid for 9 million megawatt-hours from the Millstone Power Station, owned by Dominion Energy, and, after a renegotiation, PURA approved PPAs between the EDCs and Dominion.
Under the agreements, the EDCs must purchase 50% of Millstone’s output over 10 years (2019- 2029).
A bid from Seabrook Station in New Hampshire was also selected, resulting in an 8-year contract (2022-2030).
DEEP has also selected offshore wind and solar projects under this law.
COMMITTEE ACTION Energy and Technology Committee Joint Favorable Substitute Yea 17 Nay 6 (03/18/2025) sSB1194 / File No.
534 11
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Action History

  1. FILE NO. 534

  2. SENATE CALENDAR NUMBER 299

  3. FAV. RPT., TAB. FOR CAL., SEN.

  4. RPTD. OUT OF LCO

  5. REFERRED TO Office of Legislative Research AND Office of Fiscal Analysis 04/07/25

  6. FILED WITH LCO

  7. Joint Favorable Substitute

  8. PUBLIC HEARING 0204

  9. REF. TO JOINT COMM. ON Energy and Technology

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0 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 187 not signed on

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Not signed on (187)

187 members have not signed on to this bill.

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This bill died with 2025 Regular Session. It reached “In Committee” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.
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