The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) indicated it has located the much sought after “draft” discussed in text messages between PURA chairman Marissa Gillett and Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, that have since been deleted from Gillett’s phone and, the utility companies believe, pertain to an op/ed lambasting Eversource and Avangrid.
If the draft in question is the op/ed it would be the strongest evidence yet produced backing up the utility companies’ claims that Gillett is biased against them and exercising her authority in an unfair way. The draft was requested via Freedom of Information Act since “at least January,” according to the motion filed in court, but PURA has failed to produce any responsive documents of consequence.
“At a hearing that took place last Monday, June 23, counsel for PURA represented to the court that documents that were likely responsive to the court’s April 16th discovery order were deleted from Chairperson Gillett’s electronic devices,” attorney for CNG and SGC John Cerreta wrote in a motion filed today. “That was PURA’s representation to this Court one week ago. But on Friday, June 27, counsel for PURA disclosed that, as it turns out, “PURA reports that it has identified documents relating to the ‘draft’ that Chairperson Gillett ‘finished,’ was ‘waiting for Theresa and others put eyes on,’ and was planning to send to Rep. Steinberg and Sen. Needleman ‘hopefully later’ on December 15.”
However, PURA and Assistant Attorney General Seth Hollander said they need even more time to produce the documents, despite having been ordered to do so in April. According to the filing and emails produced as evidence, Hollander says they will get the draft documents to the plaintiffs by July 7.
Because Gillett’s text messages had been deleted, SCG and CNG were set to depose Gillett and her Chief of Staff Theresa Govert. PURA attorneys are requesting a discovery extension again so that PURA can get them the documents and they can be reviewed.
According to an email from Hollander to Cerreta, the draft in question was “related to a project,” and indicated the delay is due to “late-filed hearings for the UI rate case,” and because of the holiday weekend approaching during which Hollander is going on vacation.
PURA’s discovery of documents related to the draft in question comes the day after Gov. Ned Lamont reappointed Gillett for the position of PURA chair, but also indicated he would be appointing two additional commissioners to give PURA its full roster of five commissioners as required by statute. Gillett has come under heavy criticism over the past year and barely made it through the nominations process.
That criticism intensified when it was recently revealed that she had deleted the text messages sought after by not only the utility companies but also the media and lawmakers in the General Assembly. Gillett claims her phone was set to auto-delete text messages after thirty days – but only revealed this information seven months after the initial FOI requests were made.
Gillett and Steinberg have insisted that she had no hand in writing the op/ed “penned” by Steinberg and his co-chair on the Energy and Technology Committee Norm Needleman, D-Essex, and that the draft in question was related to a piece of draft legislation.
While the discovery of the draft made as part of CNG and SCG’s rate case in superior court, it will also affect a much larger lawsuit brought by Avangrid and Eversource in January of 2025 against PURA. The utility companies claim Gillett has been issuing motion decisions alone under the guise of the full authority – something the agency has admitted to in some cases in court – and is therefore acting outside of her statutory authority.
The late night rate filing by UI was to adjust their natural gas rates by $105 million and was lambasted by Attorney General William Tong in a press release in which he urged PURA to reject the request, calling it a “bad faith maneuver,” in a press release and “an insult to the Connecticut families and businesses who can barely afford to keep their lights on right now.”
Connecticut has had some of the highest electricity and utility rates in the country for many years. During Gillett’s tenure, however, the public benefits charge on ratepayers’ bills, which pays for government-mandated programs, has spiked to over $1 billion per year. Those mandates cover the nuclear energy procurement deal with Millstone, green energy programs, energy efficiency programs, the Connecticut Green Bank, and coverage for low-income residents and those who don’t pay their bills.
Eversource and Avangrid have both faced ratings downgrades due to Connecticut’s regulatory environment. Steinberg and Needleman claimed in their op/ed that the companies were colluding with the rating agencies to wage a political war against Gillett and PURA.
The text messages between Steinberg and Gillett occurred just days before the op/ed was published in December of 2024 and, according to documents produced in court, Gillett emailed the op/ed to her staff , telling them to “enjoy” it.
“PURA, however, has now announced that, notwithstanding its repeated representations to the contrary, the agency does possess documents responsive to this Court’s prior orders after all,” Cerreta wrote. “In light of this extraordinary development, The Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation (“CNG”) and The Southern Connecticut Gas Company (“SCG”) respectfully move for a seven- day extension of the deadlines for (a) deposing Chairperson Gillett and Chief of Staff Govert, and (b) seeking leave to take additional discovery, if necessary.”
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