New England governors urge FERC to reject $1.5B stay
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- New England governors and the New England Conference of Public Utilities Commissioners urged FERC to reject Eversource and Avangrid’s request to stay a $1.5 billion refund to ratepayers until ROE litigation is resolved.
- Eversource’s Connecticut and New Hampshire utilities owe about $880 million in refunds.
- Avangrid’s Central Maine Power and United Illuminating owe about $203 million in refunds.
- FERC’s March 19 decision cut the base return on equity for New England transmission owners from 10.57 % to 9.57 %, prompting the utilities to seek a stay and claim “irreparable harm” to credit and financing.
- The utilities filed an emergency petition on April 14 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, alleging FERC ignored Section 206 of the Federal Power Act and used an extra‑statutory policy to backdate the ROE change to 2014.
- ISO New England and the transmission owners asked for a refund deadline extension to Dec 17 2027, while FERC had already extended it to May 20 2027.
- The New England Conference of Public Utilities Commissioners warned that granting a stay would “compound this harm by further delaying urgently needed relief” to consumers who have borne “unjustified costs for more than a decade.”
Why it matters: Ratepayers stand to receive $1.5 billion in overdue refunds, while the utilities risk credit downgrades, higher borrowing costs, and delayed infrastructure investment if the stay is granted. The regulators’ push to block the stay aims to protect consumers from prolonged overcharges and preserve the region’s electricity affordability.
