Gov. Ned Lamont announced the appointment of four new commissioners to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority following the resignation of PURA chairman Marissa Gillett amidst a scandal and a lawsuit by Connecticut’s major utility companies, giving the regulatory body its full roster of five commissioners for the first time since state statute required it in 2019.
Lamont named former Republican state representative Holly Cheeseman to the Authority, along with former professor of Environmental Science and Policy for Michigan State University Janice Beecher, investor and CEO of GoldenSet Capital Partners Everett Smith, and legal and regulatory director for the Office of Consumer Counsel Tom Wiehl who will serve as chairman of the Authority.
While current commissioner David Arconti will remain, Lamont did not re-name Michael Caron to the Authority, saying it was “time to make a change” and that it “changes the dynamic with the utilities.”
Arconti came to the Authority during Gillett’s unfolding scandals that involved issuing unilateral decisions, lawsuits, hidden communications, and freezing out other commissioners; therefore, he has not been named in the ongoing litigation at both superior court and before the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission.
Lamont said it has been difficult to find people with enough experience to “hit the ground running” to give PURA its full roster of commissioners, despite the governor previously claiming PURA didn’t need five commissioners and refusing to make the appointments.
“We’ve been working really hard to recast the PURA commission with five commissioners per the legislative process,” Lamont said who indicated that he consulted with Gillett to get her take on the appointments. “The job has gotten a lot more complicated over the last twenty years.”
“It’s one of the most important initiatives we have in the state, everything we can to try to bring down the cost of electricity,” Lamont said. “A lot of that is involving getting new sources of generation and we’re working on that every day and a lot of that involves working collaboratively with the utilities and doing everything we can we’re fighting on behalf of the consumers.”
Wiehl, who has worked directly on PURA dockets in his role with the Office of the Consumer Counsel (OCC) said he would recuse himself from some current dockets on which he represented the OCC. Weihl said
“I think this team of five commissioners might be the most qualified group of public utility commissioners in America, at least that I’m aware of, and this is a really exciting step forward for Connecticut,” Wiehl said. “My philosophy is very collaborative and I’m really looking forward to working with my fellow commissioners. Each of us has one vote, each of our perspectives is equally important.”
“I think if we do it right, we’ll get it right,” Wiehl said. “I think that the process itself, if we adhere to the process and really search our hearts that we’re evaluating everything before us as fairly as possible that we’ll ultimately derive the best outcome for consumers.”
Connecticut has traditionally had some of the highest electric rates in the country and despite claims that PURA would tame those cost increases under Gillett’s leadership, they have continued to climb.
The nominees will essentially mark a “fresh start” for the Authority whose job it is to regulate utilities by approving costs and setting rates in line with state statute. Since Gillett’s appointment in 2019, Connecticut’s utility rates – particularly its electricity rate – have skyrocketed, largely due to escalating public benefits charges that pay for legislatively-mandated programs.
PURA suspended rate increases to pay for those public benefits charges throughout the course of COVID and beyond before allowing the utility companies to begin collection. That price hike led to political finger-pointing over the causes and costs of those public benefit charges which grew to roughly $1 billion per year. Legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2025 moved $150 million of those charges to state bonding.
Republican Legislative Leaders, who have been critical of both the governor and how Gillett managed PURA and have sought to eliminate many of the public benefit charges, issued a statement saying, “Connecticut ratepayers have endured enough drama,” and that ratepayers want “lower electric rates, not bureaucratic chaos.”
“After six years, Governor Lamont has finally complied with state law and filled all vacancies on the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority,” said Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, Sen. Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, Rep. Tracy Marra, R-Darien, and Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich. “This is an opportunity for a fresh start at PURA and a reset for the Governor himself. He needs to take a far more active role in addressing the energy costs that are driving families out of Connecticut.”
Eversource Spokesperson Tricia Modifica said the new appointments mark a “genuine opportunity for balance and collaboration among all parties,” in moving forward with utility regulation in Connecticut, and said they appreciated Wiehl’s work in the past.
“Critical needs exist for state and regional infrastructure investments to maintain a reliable and resilient grid that can accommodate new sources of generation to meet historic levels of electric demand projected in the coming years,” Modifica said in a statement. “The current and new members of PURA bring to the table financial expertise and an understanding of the utility investment model – both of which are imperative to achieving the state’s policy goals.”
Although Gillett has resigned and new commissioners have been named, the ongoing lawsuits brought by both Eversource and United Illuminating continue to play out in court, including a possible subpoena of the current chairs of the Energy and Technology Committee, Sen. Norm Needleman, D-Essex, and Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, over their communications with Gillett allegedly regarding an op-ed the lawmakers wrote criticizing the utility companies.
The lawsuits, extensive media coverage of various problems at PURA, and attempts to hijack legislation to tip the scales in Gillett’s favor have exasperated some legislative leaders and officials who have grown tired of seeing the once-quiet regulatory body in the news. Lamont’s four proposed commissioners will have to be vetted before the General Assembly’s Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee who will vote on their appointments. Lamont said he is confident they will pass.
“I really solute Tom [Wiehl] and the rest of the folks coming in in this charged environment,” Lamont said. “They’re going to do a great job and we’re gonna get PURA off the front page of the newspaper and be there taking care of the consumers.”
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Why does simple things become so complicated. Connecticut citizens deserve a citizens review board with established work rules enforcement. 6 years to fill jobs that should have been filled 6 years ago. As the citizens of Connecticut suffer. Talk about not doing your job and still collecting a paycheck. As more and more people suffer.
Mr Fitch- excellent work on this issue and the transparency is critical to improving policy. “Public benefit” was sleight of hand from politicians who were too cowardly to pass it through normal legislation as a tax increase. Now, we are at an important junction where policy will need to address increases in energy demand and costs (from AI/data centers etc) and the lack of coherent realistic understanding of how to generate the power with the least negative externalities like pollution (e.g. renewables not enough so natural gas or even nuclear) and deliver it over an aging infrastructure at the lowest total cost to consumers (where total cost includes any subsidies, externalities et al beyond just generation and transmission). Hopefully, you work can help with this information.
As always, great work Mr. Fitch