PURA hearing focuses on how to move 10% low‑income discount customers into new five‑tier LIDR; utilities give cost estimates

The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority convened an evidentiary hearing to decide how electric distribution companies should treat customers currently enrolled in the 10% low‑income discount rate (LIDR) after PURA ordered a five‑tier structure of 5%, 15%, 20%, 40% and 50%.

Hearing officer Kate Keenan opened the session and said the proceeding would address enrollment and implementation questions for customers now on the 10% tier and for customers identified by the Department of Social Services (DSS) before full five‑tier DSS matching is available. The hearing featured presentations from United Illuminating/Avangrid (UI/Avangrid) and Eversource, followed by cross‑examination from Authority staff and intervenors.

Avangrid (UI) witnesses walked through monthly enrollment charts and described operational limits in their billing system. Avangrid said customers keep a 12‑month LIDR enrollment period unless they renew during the renewal windows, and that the company can identify the specific customers who enrolled in each month and project when their 12‑month periods expire. Avangrid recommended staging the transition so existing customers are not downgraded mid‑period: for example, upgrade current tier‑2 customers to a new top tier while moving current 10% customers to a mid tier for the remainder of their enrollment, then apply the final percentage changes at each customer’s renewal.

Eversource presented a parallel proposal and cost estimates. Jessica Brahaney Kane, vice president of customer operations and assistance programs, said Eversource ‘‘plans to implement the five‑tier discount rate next month’’ but needs a decision on where to place existing 10% customers because the 10% tier will not exist once the five tiers are in place. Daniel Treanor, Eversource’s director of collections and low‑income programs, summarized Eversource’s scenario that would protect current customers from mid‑period downgrades by moving them to the new 15% tier at implementation while preserving each customer’s existing expiration date so the transition does not restart their 12‑month verification clock.

Eversource provided estimates from June–November 2024 actuals: the company reported roughly 204,000 customers categorized in the current tier‑1 range and said the total monthly cost to serve the current 10% bucket averages about $2.1 million. Under Eversource’s calculations, moving that entire 10% bucket to 15% would add roughly $1.0 million per month in incremental cost (annualized in their presentation to about $2.4 million), while assigning those customers to 5% would reduce monthly cost by about $1.0 million versus current spending. Eversource emphasized these numbers are estimates and that final costs depend on timing, how many customers renew each month, and the forthcoming DSS five‑tier mapping.

Both utilities said they cannot have multiple percentage values stored for a single tier in their billing systems; that technical constraint is shaping proposals because the companies must eliminate the 10% setting when the five tiers are programmed. Avangrid confirmed it has not yet started five‑tier programming and gave a target of about 15 months for implementation (18 months if combined with other utilities’ projects). Avangrid and Eversource both said shortening customers’ existing 12‑month enrollment periods to align with a go‑live date would require additional IT work or manual processing and may incur extra cost.

Authority staff and intervenors pressed utilities for details and asked for several data files to refine the analysis. Staff asked UI and Eversource to produce late‑file exhibits—examples include month‑by‑month counts of customers whose enrollment periods will expire in 2025, breakdowns showing which customers were enrolled via DSS data sharing versus self‑enrollment, counts of customers removed from LIDR after failing to recertify, and monthly counts of customers who exceeded the LIDR usage cap. The hearing officer assigned exhibit numbers for the requests and set a due date of Jan. 21 for the late filings.

Stakeholders also discussed near‑term communications: Eversource said it must send customers a notice 30 days before implementing a new rate structure and asked whether to delay communications pending the authority’s guidance; the hearing officer asked Eversource to file a motion so parties can comment before the authority rules.

The hearing yielded no final decision: staff and the utilities agreed to provide the requested late‑file exhibits to sharpen cost and timing estimates, and the Authority left procedural questions (including whether to delay customer notices) to a separate motion and ruling. The hearing was adjourned after administrative matters were set.