HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen announced Thursday that electric customers will receive $5 million worth of benefits as a result of a federal settlement with the Constellation Energy Commodities Group Inc.
In March, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reached a settlement with Constellation Energy to resolve allegations of manipulation in energy markets. Under the terms of the settlement, Constellation Energy paid a $135 million fine to the federal government and a $110 million forfeiture. A part of the forfeiture, $20 million, was meant for the ISO-New England area for consumer benefit.
Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut recently agreed on a disbursement plan based on proportional monthly energy use from September 1, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2008. The states filed the request for disbursement with the FERC on Nov. 16.
"Any manipulation in our energy markets negatively impacts consumers," Jepsen said. "Our goal in this matter was to provide some restitution to electric ratepayers in a fair and reasonable manner and, working cooperatively, we were able to achieve that goal. All Connecticut electric ratepayers will rightly benefit from this settlement."
Connecticut's $5 million allocation will benefit ratepayers in Connecticut with the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative, United Illuminating, and Connecticut Light & Power. All ratepayers in the state will begin receiving credits on their electric bills starting in January.
Conn. AG announces $5 million benefit for electric customers from federal settlement
