Acadia Center Intervenes in Eversource Rate Case
Read the Full Press Release Here
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Kate McAuliffe, Senior Policy Advocate – Connecticut
kmcauliffe@acadiacenter.org
Conrad Jarzebowski, Senior Director, Communications
cjarzebowski@acadiacenter.org
For Immediate Release
Hartford, CT – August 14, 2026 – Acadia Center has been granted intervenor status in Eversource’s 2026 rate case before the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), seeking to ensure that any changes to electric rates protect consumers while advancing the state’s clean energy goals. Acadia Center is represented by Middletown, Conn.-based Michaud Law Group, LLC.
This rate case follows Eversource’s first rate application in nearly a decade, which requests a substantial increase in electric distribution rates. If approved, customer bills could increase by up to 18 percent. During a rate case, utility companies seek approval from PURA to recover costs of capital investments and other expenses. While other factors may cause electric distribution rates to change outside a rate case, this process has the potential for significant, long-term impact on rates.
Beyond the rates themselves, this rate case presents an opportunity to limit utility excessive profits, enhance accountability and transparency, adopt grid modernization initiatives, and update rate design methods that would bring measurable benefits to customers while supporting Connecticut’s transition to a clean electric grid.
“Connecticut families and businesses deserve an electric system that is affordable, reliable, and prepared to meet future energy goals,” said Kate McAuliffe, Senior Policy Advocate for the state of Connecticut, at Acadia Center. “Customers should know that the investments they’re being asked to fund are necessary, cost-effective, and building a reliable, resilient grid for the state while insulating ratepayers from expensive and volatile fossil fuel energy. The decisions made during this proceeding will lay the groundwork towards a modern electric system for the decades ahead.”
“PURA’s review of Eversource’s rate application is an important opportunity to ensure that the costs customers are being asked to bear are reasonable, necessary, and supported by the evidence,” said Paul Michaud, Managing Member Attorney at Michaud Law Group LLC. “We are pleased to represent Acadia Center and will work to ensure that its expertise and perspective are fully considered throughout this proceeding.”
Acadia Center brings decades of experience in utility regulation, electric system planning, energy affordability, and clean energy policy in Connecticut and neighboring states to this rate case. As an intervenor, Acadia Center will examine key issues throughout the proceeding, including:
- Utility Return on Equity: A power utility makes the vast majority of its profits through the return on equity it receives for building infrastructure. Acadia Center has long argued that utility returns on equity across the country are significantly higher than they should be, costing ratepayers billions more than necessary. Eversource is seeking a guaranteed return on equity (ROE) of 10.25 percent, a figure that is unreasonable and out of step with ROEs nationwide.
- Utility performance incentives: This rate case should align with PURA’s ongoing efforts to develop a system of performance-based ratemaking (PBR) that bases utility rates on the achievement of certain outcomes rather than the current system, which awards a return on capital investments.
- Grid modernization: This rate case presents an opportunity for Eversource to “advance the grid” through greater utilization of grid modernization technologies. These technologies are not simply an add-on to existing practices or a third-tier priority, as they are characterized in the Company’s filing. Their strategic implementation can improve grid resilience and aid affordability, in part by providing the structural and operational components necessary to integrate clean, affordable, and reliable energy resources and defer expensive “traditional” upgrades.
- Rate design reform: Eversource’s rate application proposes new rate designs, including a rate specifically for heat pump customers. While a heat pump rate could make heat pumps more affordable, it must be designed with accessibility and real usage patterns in mind and should draw on proven practices from other jurisdictions.
As the rate case moves forward, Acadia Center will advocate for a transparent review of Eversource’s proposal to ensure that investments deliver lasting public value. Acadia Center looks forward to lending its expertise to this critical proceeding.
About Acadia Center
Acadia Center is a nonprofit organization with over 25 years of experience dedicated to advancing transformative clean energy solutions that promote a livable climate and a more equitable economy in the Northeast United States and neighboring areas. Through rigorous data analysis and strategic partnerships, Acadia Center advocates for policies that significantly reduce carbon emissions and address systemic energy challenges. By collaborating with governments, industries, and communities, Acadia Center’s pragmatic strategies help to ensure an inclusive and sustainable energy future for all.
About Michaud Law Group LLC (“MLG”)
Michaud Law Group, with offices in Middletown, Conn., and Springfield, Mass., offers comprehensive legal services tailored to clean and renewable energy projects and environmental needs. The firm’s expertise spans project development on brownfields, landfills, former industrial sites, and greenfields. With nearly one gigawatt of successful solar, battery energy storage, fuel cell, and microgrid projects already completed or in development throughout New England, New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC, we are a trusted partner in navigating the clean and renewable energy landscape.
Finally in Service, NECEC’s Effects Still Hotly Contested in New England
Controversy has followed the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission line since its inception, when Massachusetts lawmakers debated legislation requiring the competitive procurement of 9.45 million MWh of clean energy in 2016.
After the law was passed, disagreements about how clean energy should be defined and what resources should be eligible for selection spilled into regulatory proceedings before the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU). How to treat existing resources was a hotly contested question, leading to technical and, at times, existential debates about the nature of decarbonization.
Joe LaRusso, manager of the clean grid program at the Acadia Center, argued that it is misleading to focus on non-firm, market-based transactions across other lines when assessing the performance of NECEC.
“NECEC is a contracted export-only transmission line,” he said. “Phase II is an import-export transmission line that’s been in place for a long time, and the transactions that are occurring today on Phase II — in a market sense — are not different in any way than the transactions that were taking place prior to NECEC’s commissioning.”
Illustrating the price-based dynamic, exports from New England to Québec via Phase II have occurred more frequently outside of evening peak periods, while imports have been more common during New England’s evening price spikes.
“The decisions that Hydro-Québec is making are essentially the same decisions that New York is making daily, and New England is making daily,” LaRusso said. “But what has manifested these questions is the fact that CHPE as well as NECEC are dedicated export-only lines, and so it makes the market transaction to import power over Phase II … seem more deliberate.”
He added that he expects New England’s net imports to rebound to the levels seen in 2022 or 2023, contradicting predictions that the power brought by the line will not be additive.
To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.
Mid-summer Observations About Shaving The Peak
The beginning of July marked record-breaking heat in Boston and Providence. These temperatures caused electricity demand to surge—known as peak demand events—as people ran their air conditioners to stay cool.
Peak demand events lead to an increase in both electricity prices and pollution due to the need to turn on more expensive and polluting power plants to meet electricity demand. To combat this, demand response initiatives like our Shave the Peak program and ConnectedSolutions (a program administered by Electric Distribution Companies in Rhode Island and Massachussetts) allow residents to stay informed and reduce their own electric use during peak hours.
The Acadia Center conducted an in-depth analysis of the grid impacts of the heat wave over the Fourth of July weekend and found that energy market savings driven by distributed solar on July 2 alone totaled $39-54 million.
To read the full blog from Green Energy Consumers Alliance, click here.
The Tech Giants Behind Data Centers Need to Read the Room
When the heatwave rolled in, turbines stepped up. We’re not talking about box fans or ACs: We’re talking real wind power.
Earlier this month, a sweltering heat wave pushed many of us to our limit – New England’s grid included. Last year, during a similar stretch, the region got nearly 15% of its peak power from dirty, expensive oil-fired peaker plants. This year, with Vineyard Wind and Revolution Wind online, oil’s share dropped below 10%. Total oil-fired generation across the four-day event fell 37% compared to a 2025 heatwave.
The grid didn’t just survive the heat wave. It handled it better, cleaner, and cheaper.
Offshore wind has faced relentless attacks: stop-work orders, lease pauses, and most recently, billions in taxpayer money paid by the Trump administration to developers to abandon future projects. Their argument has been that it’s unreliable, expensive, and seasonal. The July data from Grid Status says otherwise.
And solar pulled its weight during the excruciating heat, too. Rooftop and distributed solar saved New Englanders an astonishing $130 million in just one week, according to data from the Acadia Center. It’s clear: Clean energy is a win for affordability and grid reliability, especially when we need it most.
Contrast that with PJM, the Mid-Atlantic grid operator. During a separate bout of extreme heat this summer, PJM pushed up against its all-time demand record and only held on by using federal emergency orders to curtail data centers and waive power-plant pollution limits, its third such emergency this year. Wholesale prices briefly topped $2,500 per megawatt-hour, about 60 times the normal rate.
To read the full article from Deploy Action, click here.
New England began investing in rooftop solar panels in 2010. People saved $130 million in energy costs during the 2026 June-July heatwave.
On August 2, 2006, the temperature in Massachusetts hit 99 degrees with 65% humidity. New Englanders cranked up their air conditioners and fans like never before, setting an all-time record for electricity use on the regional grid. Historically, New England has suffered from some of the highest retail electricity costs in the US. But about two years later, around 2008-2010, the area began investing in rooftop solar panels.
Driven by plummeting hardware costs, aggressive state policy mandates and high regional electricity prices, many homes installed them on their roofs. A decision made all those years ago, has now benefitted the people immensely. According to a new report from Acadia Center, during the heat wave that hit New England between June 28 and July 4, distributed solar projects contributed more than six gigawatts in electricity, saving ratepayers about $130-$149 million collectively.
On July 2 alone, the report found that solar arrays saved $39 million to $54 million and solar contributed more power to the grid than the region’s nuclear fleet that afternoon. The Acadia Center analysis found that the region’s rooftop solar was, at times, feeding about 25% of all electric demand.
“The grid soaks it up,” and that means “other resources don’t have to burn during those hours of production,” saving other ratepayers money because they don’t have to buy those other fuel sources, said Jamie Dickerson, senior of climate and clean energy programs at the Acadia Center.
“Between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on that hottest day of July 2, the distributed solar actually contributed more to the fuel mix than the region’s nuclear fleet,” he said. “Basically, we saw between 28% and 43% of daily costs were avoided by the distributed solar in the region,” he added.
Rooftop-mounted solar, sometimes called “behind the meter” generation, provides power to offset energy use in individual homes and businesses. But excess electricity is sent onto the local grid, helping meet demand from nearby buildings.
“It’s distributed solar, it is close to where the load is, you know the actual electricity consumption, that means that it effectively reduces the peak demand that is seen on the regional grid,” he added.
Regional grid operator ISO-New England said in a release this summer that installed solar can reduce demand by more than 1,700 megawatts during normal weather conditions. Increased rooftop solar generation has shifted the hours of peak summer electric demand from the hottest part of the day around 4 pm into the early evening, according to ISO-NE.
According to Dickerson, this is a clear economic case for the benefits of solar power. “If we hadn’t invested in these resources, we would have been even more exposed and overexposed to the fuel sources that are more volatile and more subject to the dramatic swings in prices during peak periods,” he said.
He added that the benefits of solar are not confined to heat waves like the one seen in New England this month. In fact, the Acadia Center found that last year solar energy saved $1.26 billion to $1.37 billion.
“These are resources that we’ve invested in that are there and will show up on the grid during these types of hotter summers and El Niño summers,” Dickerson said. “We’re going to see savings year-round, but especially in the summer with higher temperatures that we’re seeing.”
Dickerson said other energy-saving measures, such as better insulation, weatherisation and more efficient appliances, also helped reduce electricity costs during the heatwave. According to the report, these passive energy efficiency measures saved ratepayers an estimated $94 million to $97 million over the week, including about $29 million on July 2 alone.
Dickerson said these savings are hard to show since it requires calculating what costs would have been without solar power. But he hoped that the report can highlight the impact of solar and refute the narrative that clean energy is driving prices up. Especially as the Trump administration pulls back support for clean energy, and state and local leaders must consider the future of those investments.
“This is hopefully helping to make the argument that these are not only good for all of our public policies around emissions reductions, but also good economic energy affordability policies too,” Dickerson said.
To read the full article from Times of India, click here.
In 2006, a record-breaking heatwave pushed New England’s power grid to its limit. A decision made years later is now saving people up to $149 million during extreme summer heat.
A record-breaking heatwave nearly two decades ago exposed just how vulnerable New England’s electricity grid was during scorching summers. On August 2, 2006, temperatures in Massachusetts climbed to 99°F with 65% humidity, prompting residents to switch on air conditioners and fans at unprecedented levels. The surge in electricity demand set an all-time record on the regional power grid.
At the time, New England already had some of the highest electricity prices in the United States. But what happened in the years that followed has now become a powerful example of how long-term clean energy investments can pay off.
According to a new report from the Acadia Center, distributed rooftop solar played a critical role during the June 28 to July 4 heatwave, generating more than six gigawatts of electricity and helping save electricity customers an estimated $130 million to $149 million over the course of the week.
Solar generated more electricity than nuclear during peak demand
One of the report’s most surprising findings came on July 2, when rooftop solar systems delivered more electricity to the regional grid than New England’s nuclear power plants during the afternoon.
The report estimates that solar arrays saved between $39 million and $54 million in a single day.
At certain points, rooftop solar supplied around 25% of the region’s total electricity demand, significantly reducing pressure on the grid during one of the hottest days of the year.
Unlike large solar farms, rooftop solar—often called “behind the meter” generation—first powers the homes and businesses where it is installed. Any extra electricity is automatically sent to the local grid, helping nearby buildings meet their energy needs.
That local generation becomes especially valuable when electricity demand spikes.
“The grid soaks it up,” and that means “other resources don’t have to burn during those hours of production,” saving other ratepayers money because they don’t have to buy those other fuel sources, said Jamie Dickerson, senior of climate and clean energy programs at the Acadia Center.
He added, “Between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on that hottest day of July 2, the distributed solar actually contributed more to the fuel mix than the region’s nuclear fleet.”
According to Dickerson, “Basically, we saw between 28% and 43% of daily costs were avoided by the distributed solar in the region.”
Dickerson explained that rooftop solar works because it generates electricity close to where people actually use it.
“It’s distributed solar, it is close to where the load is, you know the actual electricity consumption, that means that it effectively reduces the peak demand that is seen on the regional grid,” he said.
According to the Acadia Center, solar energy saved New England electricity customers between $1.26 billion and $1.37 billion last year alone.
Dickerson said the investments are becoming increasingly valuable as hotter summers become more common.
“If we hadn’t invested in these resources, we would have been even more exposed and overexposed to the fuel sources that are more volatile and more subject to the dramatic swings in prices during peak periods,” he said.
He also added, “These are resources that we’ve invested in that are there and will show up on the grid during these types of hotter summers and El Niño summers. We’re going to see savings year-round, but especially in the summer with higher temperatures that we’re seeing.”
The report found that rooftop solar was not the only reason customers saved money during the heatwave.
Other energy-efficiency measures—including better insulation, weatherization, and more efficient appliances—also reduced electricity demand.
According to the analysis, these passive efficiency measures saved customers between $94 million and $97 million during the week, including about $29 million on July 2 alone
Dickerson acknowledged that it can be difficult to measure savings because researchers must estimate what electricity costs would have been without rooftop solar.
Still, he hopes the findings challenge the idea that clean energy drives up electricity prices.
“This is hopefully helping to make the argument that these are not only good for all of our public policies around emissions reductions, but also good economic energy affordability policies too,” Dickerson said.
As debates continue over future clean energy investments, the report suggests that decisions made years ago are now helping New England residents keep electricity costs lower during some of the hottest and most demanding days of the year.
To read the full article from The Economic Times, click here.
Catholic climate experts warn AI power demands are straining resources
Catholic climate advocates and energy experts warn that the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is placing unprecedented demands on electricity and water supplies, driving up energy costs and pollution levels.
The concerns were raised during a July 21 webinar organized by Catholic Climate Covenant on energy affordability, clean energy, and data centers.
The webinar was addressed by Maria Fernanda Chavez, senior energy analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists, Jamie Dickerson, senior director of climate and clean energy programs at Acadia Center, and Ian Moise, director of Catholic Energies.
Data centers are the physical infrastructure that process data to make our digital lives possible. Roughly 12,000 data centers are in operation worldwide, with about half in the US, according to Cloudscene, a data center directory.
Dickerson said the PJM electricity market, the largest regional power grid operator in the US, has seen data center-driven demand contribute to billions of dollars in power capacity costs.
“Data centers are consuming enormous amounts of power,” Dickerson said, adding that technology companies should be required to bring new clean electricity onto the grid to meet the additional demand they create.
To read the full article from UCA News, click here.
Rhode Island energy costs are soaring. So are political tensions.
In declaring a state of emergency over rising energy prices, Gov. Dan McKee simultaneously declared war on the environmental groups, lawmakers and state regulators who he alleges are standing in the way of relief for struggling families.
Emily Koo, senior policy advocate and Rhode Island program director for Acadia Center, shared Chretien’s focus.
“An overreliance on volatile fossil gas and rising utility infrastructure spending misaligned with ratepayer interests are key systemic drivers of this affordability crisis,” Koo said in an emailed response Thursday. “We urge policymakers to embrace (and not undermine) long-lived affordability solutions, like energy efficiency and renewables, that offer durable savings year-after-year along with consumer and economic benefits, and can actually shrink the need for one-time settlements and emergency allocations going forward.”
To read the full article from Rhode Island Current, click here.
Massachusetts Senate backs income checks for Mass Save aid in some of the state’s poorest areas
A Massachusetts energy debate is putting the spotlight on one of the state’s most vulnerable groups.
As CommonWealth Beacon reported, lawmakers say stricter income checks could help safeguard benefits funded by ratepayers. Critics, however, warn that the proposal could create new barriers for households that have only recently begun accessing the program’s support.
One of the biggest divides is over Mass Save funding. The Senate left the program’s overall budget untouched, while House leaders supported a $1 billion reduction, according to CommonWealth Beacon.
Backers of tighter rules say more screening is warranted. Advocates like Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at Acadia Center, say the better solution is to make access easier, not harder.
“This is really trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist,” Murray told CommonWealth Beacon. “At a time when self-attestation has finally got the moderate-income program really running well … this really seems counterintuitive to trying to achieve those results.”
To read the full article from the Cool Down, click here.
Electricity prices are about to go up in NH. Here’s why.
Most Granite Staters will see a jump between $6 and $18 in their monthly electricity bills starting Aug. 1, as both the state’s three-investor owned utilities and the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire are raising rates. The Public Utilities Commission approved the rate changes for the utilities and the CPCNH Board of Directors approved its new rates.
The Northeast already has some of the highest electricity prices in the country, in part because of its reliance on natural gas which is subject to global market pressures. This year, the war with Iran and extreme cold spells this winter are contributing to higher costs this fall. Locally, this is the first full year utilities have had to follow a new way to set rates, which advocates say is leaving customers increasingly squeezed.
How will these conditions impact electricity bills for residential customers in the Granite State? And why may they look different for different utility customers?
What does the spot market mean for consumers?
Some consumer and clean energy advocates argue the spot market is detrimental for customers, especially at a moment when climate change is making extreme weather more likely and many families are increasingly struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living.
Joe LaRusso, who oversees the Acadia Center’s Clean Grid program, said the new calculation mechanism leaves consumers vulnerable to risk.
“They really have been set up for a trap, because they have the impression that their cost of electricity is remaining the same. That is, the price doesn’t change for six months,” he said. “But in fact, there is the risk that the half of the power that they’re getting, that’s variably priced, is accumulating a charge that they’re going to have to pay all at once at the end of that six month period.”
He said the traditional model offered a more transparent alternative that would spread out additional costs over a six month period, instead of customers being hit with a large spike once utilities realized they underestimated costs.
LaRusso said the utilities may have been missing the mark because they are inexperienced at making the market predictions they are now required to do, especially as things like weather are becoming more unpredictable.
“If utilities are required to buy half of the power that they’re delivering to their customers in this variable market, they’re really taking a bet on the weather,” he said. “Because if we have a bout of extreme weather, then we’re going to have extremely high energy prices.”
To read the full article from New Hampshire Public Radio, click here.