PURA continues RAM evidentiary review of Eversource; staff presses on PPAs, FERC ROE risk and gross‑earnings tax mechanics

Commissioner Edward Smith presided over the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority’s June 9 evidentiary hearing for docket 26‑0103, the annual review of Connecticut Light and Power Company’s rate adjustment mechanism (RAM). Authority staff opened with a broad list of issues—location marginal prices (LMPs), power purchase agreement (PPA) impacts, new DASSI revenues, potential FERC‑driven ROE refunds, gross earnings tax (GET) treatment, and ESCO staffing for clean‑energy programs—and questioned company witnesses on those topics.

On PPAs and LMPs, Eversource’s Laura Perbeck said the company files monthly updates and had not observed material changes to April‑May 2026 actualized LMPs beyond its May 13 compliance filing. Perbeck told staff that the company’s compliance model shows the RAM two‑prong triggers as approximately $53 million for the 1% residential bill threshold and roughly $30.47 million for the 10% step‑one threshold, numbers that depend on the Excel assumptions filed with the compliance materials.

Staff also pressed the company about a recent FERC action limiting base ROE, which could create sizeable retroactive refund exposure. Eversource witnesses described the matter as "unprecedented," noting FERC’s directed 100‑basis‑point reduction covers roughly a 15‑year period and that the company expects the litigation to move through stays and appeals. "This situation is certainly unprecedented with potential refund spanning over a decade," a company witness said, describing the scale and the ongoing uncertainty about timing.

Gross earnings tax (GET) treatment for wholesale Hydro‑Québec entitlement revenues drew extended explanation. Company witnesses explained that wholesale revenue and the wholesale GET are passed through to retail customers and that the retail transmission adjustment clause (TAC) is then “GET affected.” That sequencing can create both a retail revenue reduction and an additional GET obligation—offsets and re‑passes that staff asked be clarified with a late‑file exhibit. Staff requested a detailed late filing showing how the company calculates GET on the Hydro‑Québec entitlement line and how any over‑ or under‑collections reconcile with Department of Revenue Services liabilities.

Staff also asked for updates and late‑file exhibits on several operational items: the company will provide a June 13 filing on net PPA deviations; the company agreed to produce calculations and clarifying exhibits for GET treatment; and several late‑file exhibits were requested and accepted covering transformer alternatives, ESI project timing, and LAR (low‑income assistance) cost impacts tied to the May 1 rate change.

The hearing produced no formal votes; commissioners and staff set deadlines for late exhibits and scheduled the next procedural steps in the docket. The company said it expects to outline proposals in its upcoming rate case for rolling certain incremental RAM‑recovered FTEs and capital into base distribution rates, subject to reconciliation for intervening periods.