The following is an OpEd by State Rep. Tony Scott, R-112th. He is the Ranking Member of the Housing Committee and his district includes Monroe and portions of Easton and Trumbull. Learn more at RepScott.com.
Coming back to the General Assembly for my third term, I was asked to serve on a committee that gets to vet Executive and Legislative nominations. This means I get to sit with leaders of both parties from both chambers to question the people looking to serve in one of the other branches of government.
The Majority and Minority Leaders from the state Senate are members of the committee, as are the Senate President, Senate Republican Leader Pro Tempore, and Chief Deputy Republican Leader. As we move through the legislative session, I encourage my constituents to reach out to me on issues important to them because in this role, I’ll be in contact with new people outside of my two other committee assignments, as this one touches other aspects of state government.
This past week for example, I had a one-on-one meeting with the current chair of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), Marissa Gillett. I had the unique opportunity to ask her questions and voice your concerns over PURA’s recent decisions.
My primary goal with this sit-down was to hear about the commission’s thought process on some of their recent rulings affecting electric rates. But this isn’t the only area that PURA has oversight on; the commission is also tasked with ensuring natural gas, water, and telecommunications companies provide safe, clean, reliable and affordable utility service and infrastructure.
This was a one-off meeting, and PURA is only able to make rulings based on what the legislature does. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle raise our caucus proposals aimed at lowering the cost of energy.
While electric rate request reviews impact every resident and business owner in the state, a Monroe resident led a petition drive over the summer to express his outrage over the public benefits charge on Eversource bills and to ask for it to be removed.
The charge is being paid over 10 months and is for hardship cases — people with unpaid bills who avoided shutoff during the pandemic and the years that followed — and a deal with the Millstone nuclear power plant as well as dozens of small policy programs.
I previously questioned some of PURA’s recent decisions, but I will give credit where credit is due. The utilities are allowed to collect these monies from ratepayers, but Gillette wrote in her dissent that the decision could have struck a fair balance by allowing the recovery of this substantial liability over a period of two-three years, rather than just 10 months. This would provide timely recovery for the utilities and reduce the rate shock for ratepayers.
Through this new committee assignment, I also have the chance to meet with leaders of the Department of Transportation (DOT). It’s one of the most public-facing state agencies that impacts my constituents the most. We have a number of state roads that run through the 112th District, bridges maintained by the DOT, and other infrastructure within DOT’s jurisdiction.
After the DOT repaved Route 111, residents and visitors driving down the road encountered some flooding issues because of grading issues. I was able to get through to the right people to have the problem fixed but now having these connections, I hope it’s quicker to resolve these challenges.
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