UI Submits Notice of Intent to File Reliability Investment Plan

Company requesting $105 million to enable investments in more than 200 major infrastructure projects in need of repair and upgrade, mostly in Environmental Justice communities


Request made urgent by PURA’s deferral of sufficient cost recovery in 2023


For examples of infrastructure in need of repair including century-old splice chambers and 1960s-era Old Town Substation, please click HERE for B-Roll and HERE for photos


ORANGE, Conn. — September 30, 2024 — Today, United Illuminating (UI), a subsidiary of Avangrid (NYSE: AGR), submitted its Notice of Intent to file its Reliability Investment Plan with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) by November 30, 2024. In the plan, the company will request that PURA enable $105 million in additional distribution revenue in order to support more than 200 major infrastructure projects, including $41 million for projects that are already serving customers with reliable, resilient electric service but whose costs have not been included in rates. Today’s urgent action is due to PURA’s deferral of cost recovery in 2023.

Of more than 200 major infrastructure investments supported in the plan, nearly two-thirds directly benefit disadvantaged and Environmental Justice communities served by UI. Highlights include:

 

  • Rebuilding Old Town Substation, a 1960s-era substation in need of technological modernization that serves nearly 18,000 distribution customers, primarily in Bridgeport and southern Trumbull;
  • Replacing century-old splice chambers in New Haven, Bridgeport, and Ansonia towns, which will ensure the reliability of the underground electric network for critical infrastructure located in urban and downtown areas; and
  • Decommissioning Whitney Avenue substation, a 70-year-old substation serving 2,000 customers in New Haven and Hamden, to ensure customers are instead served with modern, advanced infrastructure.


Additional investments will enable the clean energy transition, such as battery storage projects in New Haven and Bridgeport; provide UI customers with new innovations to improve their customer service experience, such as generative AI on the company’s website and improvements to Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology on UI’s call-in system; and ensure our front-line workforce is well-trained and fully staffed, with investments in recruiting the next generation of our front-line workforce, many of whom live in Environmental Justice communities, to mitigate attrition due to retirements. Furthermore, many of the investments will allow UI to partner with municipalities on economic development priorities, such as serving additional load to support redevelopment of the New Haven Coliseum site and building out the infrastructure needed in the residential and retail development planned at Steelpointe Harbor in Bridgeport.

UI’s one-year rate proposal is approximately representative of the differential between UI’s previous rate request in 2022 ($131 million in a three-year rate plan) and the increase PURA approved in August 2023 (less than $23 million in a one-year rate plan). While spreading the necessary rate increase over three years would have resulted in a steady annual rise of 5 percent and provided rate stability for customers, PURA’s choice to defer the necessary funding has led to UI’s request for a one-time increase of 10 to 12 percent in a one-year plan beginning in late 2025.

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