Markley's Effort Puts Temporary Stop to Electric Bill Increases

State Senator-elect Joe Markley isn't in office just yet, but is already working against what he considers an illegal tax increase hidden in the electric bills paid by state residents.

The effort made through a civil lawsuit pending in Connecticut's court system appears to be working, at least for now.

Markley, a Southington Republican elected to the  16th Senate District earlier this year, filed a lawsuit in October against state utility regulators. The lawsuit claims that the state legislature's decision to borrow money collected on electric bills to pay for costs associated with the 10-year-old deregulation of the electric business is unlawful.

The  litigation is pending and for now will prevent the state from moving forward with the tax. Markley hopes that the suit will eventually put a permanent stop to the plan, which he called a hidden tax. He said the state legislature wants to borrow against the Competitive Transaction Assessment, or CTA, on customer's electric bills to avoid having to vote for a tax increase.

"If they want to raise taxes, which I disagree with, they should take it up properly and take it to a vote," Markley said. "I believe what they're doing is unconstitutional, and at some point we have to say enough is enough."

Markley said he is deciding whether to take the recommendation of a Superior Court judge and drop the lawsuit to pursue another legal avenue to block the state from borrowing against the CTA.

The CTA was created as a charge to help the state's dominant power providers, United Illuminating Co. and Connecticut Light & Power, recoup money lost during deregulation of the electric industry in the state. The CTA was supposed to end when those costs are paid off, in 2010 for CL&P and 2013 for United Illuminating.

State Sen. Sam Caligiuri said the state's attempt "adds insult to injury" because the rates would have decreased this year as the surcharge was set to expire.

"I give the senator-elect a lot of credit for doing what he can to protect taxpayers and ratepayers," said Caligiuri, who will cede his seat to Markley in January. "The decision the legislature made was wrong. We need to balance our budget on the spending side instead of looking for more money on the revenue said."

Many town leaders and those within his district, including Southington Town Council Chairman Edward Pocock III and Wolcott Mayor Thomas Dunn, are supporting Markley's efforts. The district covers all of Southington and extends into Cheshire and Waterbury.

Pocock said constituents from Southington are continually sharing concerns about increased taxes, utility bills and loss of jobs. The proposal to increase bills associated with the state's borrowing plan would be harmful and dishonest, he said.

"I'm glad Joe did it," Pocock said. "I think the thing that scares me the most is instead of reducing spending or reducing unfunded mandates they're trying to do anything they can to make people pay. If they can't do it in taxes, they'll do it in fees."

Former Councilman and Southington resident Andy Meade said he agrees with Markley's decision to speak out against the seemingly hidden tax on electric bills as well.

"What [the state legislature] is doing is wrong, just like the government did with Social Security money coming to the general fund. They'll spend it, and then we're broke," Meade said. "I would do everything you can to stop something like that. You can't keep spending money you don't have."

The Department of Public Utility Control is being represented in the case by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's office, although Blumenthal said he disagrees with the legislature's plan to increase electric bills.

"I am hopeful that the legislature will reconsider and rescind this energy tax as soon as possible," Blumenthal said. "My office has a duty to defend this claim against the state-despite disagreeing with the policy of depriving consumers of electric rate relief."