Eversource, United Illuminating urge on-site focus and performance-based storage in PURA successor tariff

Eversource Energy and United Illuminating told the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority at a Sept. 24 technical meeting that successor renewable energy tariffs should remain focused on on‑site generation sized to a customer’s load and use performance‑based mechanisms to encourage energy storage, rather than flat adders that could shift costs to nonparticipating ratepayers.

The recommendation was made during PURA’s technical meeting in docket 250214. Eversource’s director of customer solar programs, Brian Rice, and Katarina Miller, manager of electric supply for United Illuminating, presented joint written comments and an attached analysis showing customers could still realize significant bill reductions under alternative tariff designs that do not provide full retail credit for excess generation.

Rice and Miller said their analysis—shared with PURA and stakeholders in an Excel workbook—showed representative residential customers could save roughly $1,500 to $2,500 per year under some alternative scenarios. Rice reiterated the companies’ view that distinguishing compensation for energy exported to the grid from retail rates would create an incentive for customers to add storage and to manage discharge timing to better align with consumption.

Why it matters: PURA is conducting a successor study for Connecticut’s renewable energy tariff programs as required by the General Assembly. Changes to how exported energy is credited and how paired storage is compensated could shift program costs among participants and nonparticipants and affect adoption of on‑site solar and storage.

Key points from the EDC presentations

- On tariff economics, Rice said the EDCs’ modeling focused on PV-only…