(WFSB) – Hundreds of viewers emailed the I-Team asking us to look into rising electric bills.

Almost all the emails I received had questions about the public benefits tax.

This tax has been around for years, but now people are taking notice because they are paying almost 5 times more per kilowatt hour than they were a few months ago.

The I-Team set up a microphone in Hartford, asking people to tell us about their electric bills, and below are some of the responses:

“Well, it’s too expensive.”

“The grade is high.”

“I really didn’t use any more power than the previous month and it was more than double.”

“It was almost a 100% increase, so it’s crazy. It’s crazy.”

It’s normal for electricity bills to go up in July because people use more electricity to run their air conditioners, but in July there was another reason why bills went up. The amount Eversource customers are charged per kilowatt hour for the utility portion of the bill has increased by 490 percent. That means for the average customer, Eversource estimates the public benefit portion went from $12 per month to $59 per month.

Connecticut-based Eversource President Steve Sullivan explains, “Everything we’re doing on that end is exactly cost recovery.”

When lawmakers have enacted programs that require Eversource to spend money, by law, customers must pay Eversource back for those programs through the public benefits tax. Eversource says it has been underpaid for years.

One reason is because of what happened during the pandemic, when lawmakers said Eversource couldn’t shut off a customer’s power. Over four years, outstanding balances nearly tripled from $101 million to $274 million.

“They built and built until finally we forced the issue and said you have to pay,” Sullivan said.

The I-Team wanted to know if other states are making customers pay for other people’s bills, so we reached out to electricity regulatory agencies in all 50 states. Of the 23 states that responded before the deadline, most said they had something similar to Connecticut. Eight states have no mechanism for taxpayers to pay other customers’ outstanding bills. For example, in Kansas, these types of taxes were considered unfair and discriminatory. In West Virginia, instead of asking customers to pick up the tab, utilities get a tax credit to make up the difference. In Florida, financial assistance programs are paid for by nonprofit organizations or social service agencies.

Pandemic payback is what many people wanted to talk about when they took to our microphone.

“I think it’s unfair that we have to pay for other people who couldn’t pay during covid,” said Edyda Cooney of West Hartford.

“If someone doesn’t pay their electric bill, why should I pay it for them?” said Steven from Torrington.

Eversource reports that unpaid bills account for about 20 percent of the public benefits rate increase. Eversource says nearly 70 percent of the increase is to pay for a state contract with the Millstone nuclear power plant. In 2019, state Republicans led an effort to buy power from the plant to ensure it stays open. The contract calls for Eversource to buy power from Millstone at a rate that is currently higher than the market price. Customers must make up the difference by paying public benefits tax.

State Sen. Ryan Fazio is the ranking Republican on the energy committee and supports Millstone’s decision.

“I think most serious energy analysts on both sides of the aisle understand that nuclear plants like Millstone, which are zero carbon, reliable and the lowest form of zero carbon energy around, need to stay online as we see demand for electricity,” Fazio said. .

Senator Norm Needleman, Democrat, is co-chairman of the energy committee. A spokesman told us he wasn’t available to talk to us about the matter, so we sat down with House Co-Speaker Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, also a Democrat.

Steinberg voted for the Millstone contract.

“If we had let Millstone close, we’d be in much worse shape today, and we’d be talking about a different kind of crisis, which is being sure your lights will come on when you flip the switch?” Steinberg said.

The current increase in public benefits runs through May, and if all state programs remain as they are, Sullivan predicts the tax on your bill will drop.

“Before the first of July, the rate was artificially low, but because we’re paying off that past balance, now it’s artificially high, and actually it’s probably going to fall somewhere in the middle,” Sullivan said.

However, that could all change depending on what happens this legislative session.

State Republicans have proposed moving many of the programs currently paid for by the public benefits tax into the regular budget process. Then the money came from the general fund and was paid for with tax dollars.

“We shouldn’t be raising electricity costs when they’re already so high in the state to fund these government programs,” Fazio said.

Steinberg does not support this idea.

“You can decide where you’d rather pay for it, but if you believe in something worth doing, does that really matter more?” Steinberg said

Steinberg says Connecticut needs to spend more money, not less, to invest in renewable energy like solar and wind.

“This is really an imperative for Connecticut if we’re going to remain economically competitive and if we’re going to maintain our quality of life,” Steinberg said.

While it’s often said that you should turn off the lights to lower your electric bill, what you end up paying each month will also depend on who controls the lights in Hartford.

There was another increase in public benefits tax from September. Eversource estimates that the average customer pays about $3 more per month to pay for an electric vehicle charger rebate program. The I-Team takes a closer look at this program in Part 2 of the series airing Thursday, Nov. 7.

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