CT Senate GOP Statement on Upcoming Bond Commission Vote on Public Benefits Charge Reduction

Sen. Ryan Fazio, Sen. Jeff Gordon and Sen. Stephen Harding issued the following statement regarding the State Bond Commission’s scheduled Aug. 1 vote to approve $155 million in bonding in order to reduce the Public Benefits Charge on electric bills.

“Anyone who just opened their latest bill will agree that electricity costs in Connecticut are still much too damn high.

During negotiations over Senate Bill 4, Republicans pushed for more real cuts to the cost of public programs while Democrats wanted to borrow more and shift the costs to taxpayers without reducing the overall cost of the programs. That is why the state is now bonding $155 million for ongoing public benefits programs.

For years, Republicans have been sounding the alarm that Connecticut’s sky-high electric rates are crushing working families.

Merely reducing the hidden public benefits tax is not nearly enough. Republicans will continue pushing to totally eliminate those public benefits charges from electric bills.

And by the way, the reason people can now see the public benefits charges is because Senate Republicans successfully pushed to pass a law requiring bill transparency.

Thanks to Republicans constantly beating the drum and forcing Democrats to recognize this cost-of-living crisis, we are finally inching in the right direction. We’ve got a long way to go.”