PURA Meets The Public

“My co-leader [at Witnesses to Hunger] decided not to come today. When I asked her why, she told me, ​‘They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do, whatever we say.’”

So said Kimberly Hart, addressing the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) at a public forum Tuesday evening in Ives Main Library.

The event at 133 Elm St. was organized for PURA’s Equity, Accessibility, and Stakeholder Engagement (EASE) docket. Since launching the initiative in September 2024, PURA has been gathering feedback and suggestions from Connecticut residents.

The point of the docket is to solicit public input in regards to how the state’s utility regulators communicate with the public. As a 2024 request for proposals for an EASE consultant put it, ​“The Authority is most interested in improving opportunities for participation in the decision-making processes, especially by low-income residential customers, residential customers that experience high energy burdens, and individuals and communities impacted by Authority decisions.”

Consultants from Common Spark Consulting and Elevated Engagement, contracted through 2025, led Tuesday’s meeting.

Hart’s comment drew nods of agreement from around the room. PURA staff attorney Elizabeth Tanaka responded, stating that the agency was not required by statute to launch EASE.

“We, as staff of PURA, got together and said that we wanted to do this docket. The idea that we don’t want to hear from you is flawed,” Tanaka said. ​“We can’t hear from you unless you come to us, and this is our invitation for you to [do just that].”

Roughly 30 people attended Tuesday’s meeting, including over a dozen from the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) and United Illuminating (UI). It was the second and final public forum tied to the EASE docket.

After a background presentation by consultants Suhaila Sikand and Tanya Paslawski, attendees broke into smaller groups to answer two questions: ​“What outreach methods are most important, trustworthy, accessible, and widespread in your community?” and ​“What information is important to have available on PURA’s website regularly to increase your engagement?”

In response to the first question, attendees suggested a more straightforward process for submitting public input and getting questions answered.

While Tanaka recognized the need for improvement, she explained that PURA’s decisional staff is subject to ex parte rules, which prohibit direct communication between PURA and the public ​“99 percent of the time.” The process can be ​“simplified,” she said, but never ​“simple.”

The Office of Education, Outreach, & Enforcement (EOE), the agency’s public-facing branch, is allowed to speak to Connecticut residents but faces another set of limitations. According to a DEEP representative, just four EOE staff members are responsible for fielding over 20,000 calls each year.

In response to the second question, Yale Assistant Professor Annie Harper and PURA staff attorney Eric Beckenstein described the challenges they face when using PURA’s website for research. ​“All of the information is there,” said Beckenstein, ​“but it’s hard to find.”

They suggested a more sophisticated search function that filters by date and subject matter, as well as an automated email that summarizes a docket’s public comments once its deadline has passed.

But technical solutions like those are not viable, explained another DEEP representative. The agency still uses Lotus Notes, a software platform developed in 1982, and would need at least a decade to modernize its systems.

The meeting did not address Hart’s main concern: the rising cost of utilities in Connecticut. ​“Summer is supposed to be a reprieve,” she said. But now, utilities have become ​“completely unaffordable” year-round.