Gov. Ned Lamont continued to back Marissa Gillett for chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority despite recent revelations that Gillett had “inadvertently” deleted key text messages between herself and a state legislator that were sought after as evidence in a lawsuit by state utility companies alleging Gillett was biased and improperly exercising her authority.

Under state statute, the governor appoints PURA commissioners and appoints the chairperson. Gillett was originally appointed in 2019, and Lamont renominated her as commissioner during the 2025 legislative session.

“Marissa is the most experienced, qualified person to ever serve on PURA,” Lamont said in a press release. “Her breadth of knowledge and experience in energy policy, combined with her collaborative approach, commitment to fairness, and her ability to navigate complex cases will benefit the state and its ratepayers. She is exactly the kind of qualified person we need serving in this leadership position.”

Lamont did, however, indicate at an event in Shelton that he is looking to appoint two additional commissioners to PURA, something he has resisted despite state statute requiring five commissioners, and even though having only three PURA commissioners has created headaches when it came to properly conducting meetings and electing presiding officers.

One of those two new commissioner jobs was reportedly to be given to Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, as part of a backroom deal to get Gillett through the nominations process. That appointment, however, would have required PURA to become a quasi-public agency and the deal fell apart throughout the course of the 2025 session. The other possible appointment is former state Rep. Holly Cheeseman, a Republican from East Lyme.

Gillett’s tenure as chairman of PURA has been marked with controversy, ranging from sky-high public benefits charges to credit rating downgrades for both Eversource and Avangrid due to Connecticut’s regulatory environment, to a lawsuit by those companies alleging Gillett has violated state statute by issuing motion decisions on her own under the guise of the full authority.

During a previous court hearing, the attorney for PURA admitted that Gillett alone issued a motion decision with legal findings of fact that she was not biased and had not participated in ex parte communications; later they admitted she had deleted text messages between herself and Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, allegedly regarding authorship of an op/ed that accused the utility companies of colluding with ratings agencies to smear Gillett and PURA.

The Lamont administration, however, has defended Gillett throughout the controversy, including releasing a document to the media purportedly to show that thousands of motion decisions had been conducted properly, but instead showed the very problem the utility companies were alleging in court. 

During the 2025 legislative session, an attempt was made to insert language into an energy bill that would have gotten PURA and Gillett off the legal hook, but that language was later removed. A similar attempt was made in 2023, but it was also removed in the budget implementer.

General Assembly Republicans, who have been highly critical of Gillett’s performance, immediately pounced on Lamont’s decision as evidence that Lamont is “willfully ignoring a crisis,” especially following revelations she deleted text messages that should have been retained under the state’s Freedom of Information laws.

“The Governor’s decision to reappoint Marissa Gillett as PURA Chair is as baffling as it is predictable. She misled legislators and the public—and even deleted records subject to Freedom of Information laws,” House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said in a press release. “The Governor is willfully ignoring a crisis, hoping it will fade away. But it won’t. Connecticut now holds the dubious distinction of having the worst regulatory environment in the country, with unaffordable electric bills and toxic relations between PURA and utility companies.”

“In making his decision, surely Gov. Lamont asked her about her deleted government text messages,” Senate Republicans Jeff Gordon, R-Enfield, Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, and Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield said a press release. “So now, the governor must provide overburdened ratepayers with those much-needed answers. We need and deserve that transparency.”

Gillett and her Chief of Staff Theresa Govert are set to be deposed in a rate making case brought by Avangrid’s two natural gas companies since the granting of discovery did not produce the sought after documents and revealed the text messages were deleted. That rate making case was brought by Avangrid after PURA slashed their revenue requests and they were subsequently downgraded by ratings agencies, but the fallout over the text message crosses over into the larger lawsuit brought by both Eversource and Avangrid.

During a June 25 interview with Lisa Wexler on WICC 600’s Lisa Wexler show, Gillett said she didn’t want the public to “lose track of the fact that this litigation around where PURA had ordered a rate decrease for the companies.”

“Folks who have personal devices know that iPhones can be programmed to have deletions and it just so happens that my personal device is set for deletion after thirty days, and to be clear the text messages they are referencing are available,” Gillet said. “Representative Steinberg has made those available.”

However, what has not been made available by any of the parties and was not disclosed in discovery was the “draft” Steinberg and Gillett were discussing. The text messages also directly discuss using personal email to avoid Freedom of Information disclosures.

“I think this will have to play out in the courts,” Gillett said.

Senate Republicans indicated they will be asking the Government Oversight Committee to look into the matter to “restore people’s faith in their state government.”

“Why? Because it looks to the average, hard-working Connecticut resident struggling to pay high electric bills that it is too convenient for critical text messages to somehow be deleted,” the Senate Republicans said.

“Connecticut now holds the dubious distinction of having the worst regulatory environment in the country, with unaffordable electric bills and toxic relations between PURA and utility companies,” Candelora said. “Credit agencies have sounded the alarm repeatedly. The system is on fire, and the Governor is doubling down on the person who lit the match.”

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