On August 30, the Public Utility Regulatory Authority voted 2-1 to deny motions by the Office of Consumer Counsel and others to reopen PURA’s decision from earlier this year that led to massive electric bill spikes for residential customers. PURA’s August 30^Th decision is woefully short on legal reasoning and callous towards ratepayers, especially those who can afford it at least, who already suffer from one of the highest energy burdens in the nation.

PURA’s two-page decision provides two reasons for refusing to modify its earlier rate increase decision: (1) customers tend to use less power in the fall in winter than in the summer so they will get a “tangible reprieve” as summer transitions to fall ; and (2) the process for reopening a proceeding takes time and effort (taking new evidence, conducting hearings, issuing decisions) and would open PURA up to appeals, all of which could take longer than the 10-month amortization period for the old rate increase.