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32 COnnECTiCUT GREEn GUiDE • SprinG 2015 www.CTGreenGuide.com Opinion EDiTORiAL PURA Should Stand on Its own A small, rare public spat be- tween Connecticut regula- tors and elected officials popped up in January and yielded absolutely zero change. The three commissioners of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority — Jack Betkoski, Michael Caron, and Chairman Arthur House — wrote a letter to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy say- ing their wanted their own inde- pendent agency, so they could be free of any real or perceived influ- ences as a result of being under the auspices of the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. Malloy's response amounted to, "If you don't like it, commissioners, then quit." PURA immediately backed off. But the torch the commissioners were carrying shouldn't have extin- guished there. They were making a reasonable, well-thought-out argu- ment that should have gotten more respect from Malloy and the rest of the executive branch. Having PURA be part of DEEP makes sense from an administra- tive cost standpoint, and creating a separate agency probably would result in more bureaucracy and more state employees, which is the last thing Connecticut needs. Still, a conflict of interest does arise when DEEP is a party to almost every major PURA case, and PURA reports to DEEP Commissioner Robert Klee, who reports directly to Malloy. Looking over PURA's decision- making since it became part of DEEP in 2011, it is hard to say the commissioners have been influ- enced by Malloy's politics. They have dragged their feet on using submetering to pay for renew- able energy systems, which Malloy called for in 2012. The recent deci- sion to raise the basic connection fee for Eversource Energy's Con- necticut electric ratepayers went against Malloy's and many other elected officials' wishes. Still, this is only the current iteration of PURA. As new commis- sioners, new staff, new DEEP lead- ers, and new governors roll in and out over time, the agency's power structure always will have a hand in its decision-making. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine PURA dete- riorating into a situation like Office of Health Care Access, whose long list of politically charged restric- tions against for-profit operators buying out nonprofit hospitals es- sentially killed a deal to have Texas operator Tenet Healthcare take over five Connecticut facilities. There is a precedent for having stand-alone state regulatory agencies. The Connecticut Siting Council, which has the sole discretion to approve the locations of power plants and telecommunications infrastructure, makes its decisions independently of any executive branch department. Setting up a similar situation for PURA wouldn't be that difficult. Ultimately, PURA is the place where the interests of businesses, residents, and politics all intersect. The agency must make complicat- ed decisions equally based on how they influence considerations like utilities' ability to provide reliable energy, the ratepayers' pocketbook, and the precedent set for the fu- ture. Having those decisions made free of any political influence is an absolute must. PURA holds regulatory authority over everything ranging from electric and natural gas utilities' rates to water companies to renewable energy designations. PHOTO | HBJ FiLE