There’s a hidden cause of increasing utility costs. It’s not the Millstone agreement or the Public Benefits Charge—it’s the cost of transmitting energy. 

“Transmission is not the largest component of your bill, but it is one of the fastest growing components of your bill,” Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Deputy Commissioner Joe DiNicola said at a press conference on Aug. 11. “That’s worrisome for many of us who are watching this, because the overall level of the bills are already high.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) and Connecticut Consumer Counselor Claire Coleman also spoke at the conference. 

“While transmission is incredibly important for reliability and resiliency, we also need to make sure that we are devoting resources to where they’re needed and that there’s rigorous oversight when it comes to review and approval of these projects,” Coleman said.

Transmission costs make up between 12-15% of utility bills, according to Colemen.

Eversource reported in its second quarter financial report a 10% year-over-year increase in transmission profits. It made over $400 million in transmission costs alone in the first half of 2025—$40 million more than it made in the first half of 2024. Eversource is reporting just over $900 million in total earnings so far this year. 

“Those are expected to increase about 20% from 2026 to 2030,” Coleman said. “Meanwhile, as customers are facing these increased costs, we do see increased profits from the transmission line on our transmission owners or utilities books.”

In 2016, the total cost of planned or ongoing transmission projects in the state was $58 million. Now, it is $1.2 billion, and it is expected to rise to $6 billion in the next few years, according to Blumenthal. 

“The transmission projects are largely out of sight for consumers,” Blumenthal said. “They’re transmission lines or other kinds of construction that may not be immediately apparent, but the cost of these projects, it’s very visible on your bills.”

The primary body in charge of regulating transmission is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). It’s reviewed by the federal government, because many transmission lines run through multiple states. 

When a utility company proposes a new project to FERC, there is an assumption that the project is necessary and beneficial, according to Coleman. It is up to a challenger to prove otherwise. That means that, as long as financial documents check out, transmission projects almost always get approved.

“The Federal Regulatory Energy Commission (sic) is failing, utterly failing, at cost containment for consumers,” Blumenthal said. “It is exercising virtually no oversight or scrutiny of transmission projects that utilities undertake at cost, ultimately to consumers. Why do they undertake them? Because it means higher profit.”

This legislative session, the General Assembly approved SB4, which created a process in the state to review projects proposed by Eversource and United Illuminating, which is a subsidiary of Avangrid. This review process would involve DEEP officials, the Office of Consumer Counselor and the utility companies. So far, the cooperation is going well, DiNicola reported. 

Blumenthal says it will take legislative reform to fully fix what he sees as problems at FERC, but in the meantime, he wrote a letter demanding that FERC increase oversight of proposed transmission projects. 

And there may be new developments at the regional level. 

For years, New England state officials have been advocating for the Independent Systems Operator New England (ISO-NE), which is the regional transmission organization for New England, to implement an independent reviewer to look at proposed transmission projects. In May, ISO-NE said it would be open to taking on the role of Asset Condition Reviewer that would look at proposed utility asset projects. 

“Right now, we have a fairly constructive process going on regionally,” DiNicola said. “It’s not clear we’re going to make it over the finish line there, but we are cautiously optimistic that we have a joint effort that is going to get us there.”

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