“Wait a second.” CT Senate GOP Statement on Gov’s “Oil-Based Furnaces” & PURA Comments

Sen. Rob Sampson, Ranking Senator on the Government Oversight Committee, and Sen. Stephen Harding, Ranking Senator on the Environment Committee issued the following statement in reaction to Gov. Lamont today saying he wants to “get rid of the oil-based furnaces” and that PURA Chair Marissa Gillett needs to be “very transparent on what happened with this FOI stuff.” (Video link: http://ct-n.com/ctnplayer.asp?odID=25050&jump=0:53:10)

“Wait a second: Gov. Lamont wants to ‘get rid of’ oil-based furnaces in households and small businesses across the state?

In 2022, Gov. Lamont’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority ended a program that provided incentives to consumers to connect their homes and businesses to natural gas after the initiative fell short of its goals. Gov. Lamont’s PURA unanimously said the program was ‘no longer in the best interest of ratepayers’.

So, before coming for our oil-based furnaces, Gov. Lamont may want to circle back with PURA on his statement today.

With regard to his PURA Chair needing to be ‘very transparent on what happened with this FOI stuff’, the governor is absolutely right. Yet here again, Gov. Lamont is speaking to her through the media – the same media that he recently advised her to stop talking to.

Will Gov. Lamont ever ask her directly what she knew and when she knew it?

Senate Republicans will be formally asking the legislature’s newly-created Government Oversight Committee to convene to ask those very questions. Overburdened ratepayers deserve a ‘very transparent’ PURA, and Gov. Lamont at least says he feels the same way.”