Your UI Bill Will Be Increasing: Here Is How Much And When

CONNECTICUT — United Illuminating Tuesday filed its preliminary 2025 Rate Adjustment Mechanism, or RAM, with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.

UI is a subsidiary of Avangrid Inc.

In the filing, UI calculates that, beginning in May 2025, customers will see a 0.10 percent overall bill increase (1/10 of 1 percent). That equates equates to approximately 26 cents per month for the average residential customer using 700 kilowatt-hours per month, primarily due to the Public Benefits Charge. The charge is made up of impositions from the legislature or regulators and represent "a pass-through cost for UI that the company does not profit from," officials said.

"The increase belies claims from some state legislators that the 2024 increase would end by May 2025," UI stated in a news release.

"It’s important for our customers to know that, as a distribution-only company, we do not control or profit from the Public Benefits Charge, which funds sustainability and hardship programs that have been passed by state policymakers," UI President and CEO Frank Reynolds said. "We are required by state law to implement the programs contained in the Public Benefits Charge. If customers have questions about these charges, we encourage them to contact their elected officials."

The increase in the Public Benefits Charge is primarily driven by an $18.1 million increase in the System Benefit Charge, which pays for energy assistance costs, energy efficiency programs, and other state-mandated programs, UI officials said. The most "significant driver" of the SBC increase is arrearage forgiveness programs, including uncollectible billing, bill forgiveness, and the Low-Income Discount Rate, which had its first full year of implementation in 2024, UI officials said.

A secondary driver of the increase is an $12 million increase in the Non-Bypassable Federally Mandated Congestion Charges, which pay for a variety of programs including contracts with zero-emission energy facilities such as the Millstone and Seabrook nuclear power plant contracts, they added.

The final component of the RAM filing is a $43,000 increase to the cost of transmission for UI customers and an adjustment to the Revenue Decoupling Mechanism.

The Public Benefits Charge portion of residential electric bill pays for programs that state legislators, regulators, and other state policymakers have passed and implemented and that are required to be paid for on electric bills.

"UI does not control or profit from these charges," utility officials said.

UI's service territory includes 17 Connecticut towns and cities in an area totaling 335 square miles along or near the shoreline of Long Island Sound.