The lawsuit filed by Connecticut’s two major utility companies against the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has concluded with PURA having to admit that former Chairman Marissa Gillett broke numerous statutes in making unilateral motion decisions and passing off those rulings as decisions made by the full Authority, according to a stipulated agreement.
Eversource and Avangrid filed the lawsuit in January 2025 after years of bitter disagreement between the utilities and PURA over how it operated and numerous warnings to Gov. Ned Lamont that Gillett was freezing out the other commissioners and issuing substantive motion decisions that added tens of millions to ratepayers’ electric bills.
At issue was Gillett appointing herself to be presiding officer in all docketed cases and issuing decisions by herself on motion filings and using the executive secretary’s signature on the response letters to signal that it was a decision by the full Authority. Some of those decisions Gillett issued involved legal opinions about her own conduct.
According to the stipulated agreement, PURA admitted that Gillett self-designated herself to be presiding officer “in all, or nearly all, proceedings conducted by PURA since January 1, 2020;” was “unilaterally deciding substantive motions in contested and uncontested dockets, instead of reporting back to a panel;” that the decisions were “improperly issued by a single presiding officer as rulings by the ‘Authority’ over the signature of the Executive Secretary,” and that records of commissioner voting on agency decisions were not maintained.”
The allegations over Gillet’s handling of cases were outlined in an extensive Inside Investigator piece published in January 2025, all of which were admitted to by PURA in the stipulated agreement.
According to state statute, there are supposed to be five commissioners; three commissioners are assigned as a panel to hear a case, and those three commissioners will appoint a presiding officer. None of that was done, outside one or two cases, during Gillett’s tenure, which ran from 2020 until 2026.
During Gillett’s tenure, however, there were only three PURA Commissioners because Lamont had refused to appoint the full roster per state statute. According to comments previously given to Inside Investigator by PURA, because because there were only three commissioners, thus making a panel of three, Gillett assumed the role of presiding officer because she was the chair and therefore head of the agency.
The Lamont administration repeatedly defended Gillett throughout 2025 despite Gillett dodging discovery of emails and text messages before admitting to deleting those communications. Lamont went on to reappoint Gillett as PURA chairman, claiming that she was tough on the utility companies and was holding them accountable. Rate cases are now being remanded back to PURA for reconsideration after the court determined Gillett acted improperly, and PURA’s admission to six years’ worth of improper handling of cases could have a long shelf life.
As part of the stipulated agreement, PURA agreed that only a panel of commissioners can designate a presiding officer; only a panel of commissioners can issue substantive motion rulings; the executive secretary’s signature on motion rulings is discontinued, and the votes of all motion rulings will be “recorded, maintained and made public.”
Following Gillett’s resignation, Lamont appointed a full complement of commissioners and has now made energy affordability and holding the utility companies accountable a centerpiece of his reelection campaign. He has also claimed credit for a routine readjustment of the public benefits charge on ratepayers bills – a charge that pays for government mandated programs and amounts to roughly $1 billion per year.
After seven years, however, Eversource is requesting an eleven percent increase to their rates, which will include billions in storm recovery costs PURA had sidelined for years, as well as costs associated with PURA push toward smart metering.
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