Sens. Harding & Fazio: CT needs smart, tough regulators to protect electricity consumers

Connecticut PURA faces commissioner shortage, stirring up political debate over high salaried seats

By Luther Turmelle
Hearst CT Media
July 30, 2024

The Connecticut agency regulating public utilities in the state has been shorthanded for years, despite a lack of statutory road blocks to appoint members and a six-figure salary for those who serve on the board.

The annual salary range for Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority commission members is between $151,950 to $207,189.

State statutes allow for five PURA commissioners to serve, but in recent years only three have been deciding such issues as rate hikes. PURA also ensures laws governing utilities, including electric, natural gas, water, and telecommunications, are being followed to provide public health, safety and a strong infrastructure for state residents.

Now, with a long-time PURA commissioner retiring at the end of the year, and a former Democratic lawmakers being named to replace him, the General Assembly’s Republican minority has made the political make-up of the commission one of its key talking points.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced Friday that PURA commissioner and vice chairman John Betkoski III plans to retire from the regulatory agency at the end of this year, after nearly three decades on the job. Lamont has nominated former Danbury lawmaker David Arconti to fill the vacancy that will be created by Betkoski’s departure. Arconti will serve on an interim basis starting Aug. 5, after which he will be nominated for a four-year term during the 2025 legislative session that starts in January. At that point, the commission will return to having three members only, out of a possible five.

Lamont’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Monday asking why the governor and his administration has chosen to leave the two remaining vacant PURA commissioner positions empty come January.

Betkoski also declined to comment on the number of appointed commissioners following his retirement.

State Sen. Norman Needleman, D-Essex, co-chairman of the General Assembly’s Energy and Technology Committee and first selectman in Essex, said he is not in favor of increasing the number of PURA commissioners beyond it’s existing makeup.

“I’m convinced that three is the right number of commissioners,” Needleman said Monday. “The amount of work commission members do is much more complicated than it used to be; it’s a big job. But as far as I’m concerned, this is an all-hands-on-deck situation, a full-time job that is funded as such and should be treated accordingly.”

State Sens. Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, and Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, disagreed, however, noting that three commission members on a five-member board goes against state law.

In a joint statement Harding and Fazio released on Monday, they wrote the regulatory agency “should always be populated with bipartisan representation for all five seats, as outlined in the law, or the law should be changed back to three seats and it should be populated with three members, with bipartisan representation.” Harding is Republican Senate minority leader and Fazio is a ranking member of the legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee.

“What is clear is that there needs to be the same number consistently populating the committee as the law requires rather than inconsistency that also creates uncertainty for energy consumers and appears to entail extra influence from the governor’s office,” the two lawmakers said through a joint statement. “We need predictability to our regulatory system and smart, tough regulators on PURA to protect consumers.”

Gary Rose, a political science professor and chairman of Sacred Heart University’s Department of Government, said leaders of the Connecticut Republican Party see energy costs as an issue that will resonate with voters across the state.

“It’s a hot button issue,” Rose said.

Taren O’Connor, PURA spokeswoman, said membership of the state’s utility regulatory agency was increased from three members to five in 1974. Then in 2011, the number of commissioners was reduced from five members back to three.

The number was then increased from three to five again in 2019.