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8 CONNECTICUT GREEN GUIDE • FALL 2015 www.CTGreenGuide.com "I know the utilities like to consider themselves Fortune 500 companies — and there is a lot of evidence that is true — but they are really a hybrid because they are regu- lated entities, too," Reed said. "The way they are regulated and how they are used to implement new policy really needs to be looked at." The Utility 2.0 legislation was the latest in a string of next generation energy proposals that began when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy took office in 2011, providing incentives for businesses and residents to build more renewable energy, invest in expensive energy efficiency upgrades and establish their own mini power grids that could island themselves during a power outages. These changes, though, began to clash with the tradi- tional utility model, where the rates customers paid to com- panies like United Illuminating and Eversource Energy used to be set largely based on usage. As businesses and residents began to generate their own electricity and use less from the main power grid, the utilities risked loss of revenue. The main provision of the Utility 2.0 legislation dealt with the fee utilities could charge customers for simply connecting to the power grid. Last year, Ever- source had asked regulators to increase this fixed fee from $16 to $25.50 monthly, which had new energy ad- vocates crying foul that such an increase would erode any gains businesses or residents made by installing renewables or taking efficiency measures. Regulators eventually approved an increase to $19.25. The original version of Utility 2.0 sought to slice that Alex Deboissiere, senior vice presi- dent for govern- ment relations, UIL Holdings Elements of the power grid that may have to evolve moving forward include (from top) transmission lines like these from Norwalk to Middletown, the ISO New England control center, and electricity generating plants like the nuclear Millstone Power Station in Waterford. PHOTOS | HBJ FILE The price of electricity paid by Connecticut consumers has been rising this year, which actually makes renewable installations more affordable because they offset higher energy costs. SOURCE: U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION Green Fact: At the end of 2014, Connecticut had 45 megawatts of installed solar capacity, ranking it 17th in the nation. SOURCE: SOLAR ENERGY INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION Residential Commercial Industrial Transportation All Sectors 0 3 5 8 10 13 15 18 20 23 25.0 by State, Year-to-Dat through May 2015 and 2014 Cents per Kilowatthour May 2015 YTD May 2014 YTD Table 5.6.B. Average Retail Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-User Sector, Connecticut