State policymakers have a vision for a cleaner, greener Connecticut by the year 2040—one that includes widespread adoption of electric vehicles and solar installations, and integrating additional renewable energy sources into the electric grid to help keep up with soaring demand for electricity. Eversource has a proven track record of supporting these efforts that will enable a clean energy future for customers, and the company is working harder than ever to make its systems smarter, more resilient and sustainable for this emerging era.
“As an industry leader, we take great pride in our ambitious efforts toward reliability and sustainability. We’re more than just a storm response company: we’re creating the road map to the future of clean energy, but we can’t get there alone,” said Eversource President of Electric Operations Steve Sullivan. “We’re eager to collaborate with state policymakers, our regulators and key stakeholders on next steps to advance our shared goals with the state to tackle climate and energy challenges.”
Decarbonizing the heating and transportation sectors is necessary to achieve economy-wide emission reduction targets. To accelerate these goals, Eversource is exploring innovative clean energy solutions and forward-thinking infrastructure investments that will support the expected surge in electric demand. This includes integrating cutting-edge technology to strengthen reliability and efficiency for customers, like installing smart switches on the system that can isolate outages and reroute power remotely, and Rapid Pole technology—temporary mobile poles that help crews swiftly address broken pole locations by restoring power quickly while longer, permanent repairs take place.
Proactive investments have led to the dramatic reliability improvements Connecticut customers have experienced over the last decade. In that time, Eversource has spent a significant amount of money to strengthen the resiliency of the electric system, and those investments have paid huge dividends for customers. A decade ago, the average customer saw their power go out once every ten months. Thanks to billions of dollars of investment during that period—which included equipment like new and more resilient poles, wires and transformers as well as upgrades to substations and the introduction of remote switching technology to get the power on faster—the average customer now goes about 20 months between interruptions, not including severe weather events.
Demonstration of Eversource Rapid Pole Technology Credit: Courtesy of Eversource
These investments don’t pay off just by reducing the frequency and duration of outages for customers; they also help to power communities through tax dollars that support critical local government services and programs. Eversource is one of the top taxpayers in most cities and towns across Connecticut, paying property taxes on every piece of equipment it owns within a municipality, which in turn support other community priorities.
Installing Eversource Smart Fuse Technology Credit: Courtesy of Eversource
The money spent by Eversource on safety and reliability investments has made Connecticut’s overall reliability performance among the best in the country. But without a stable regulatory landscape and secure, predictable cost-recovery mechanisms in place for grid investments, the energy company is left to narrow its spending priorities to focus primarily on maintaining the status quo until such an environment can be established.
It’s going to take a lot of hard work and strong partnerships to usher in the unprecedented transition to renewable energy. Both utilities and investors must have opportune financial predictability in order to make infrastructure investments of the magnitude that will be required to enable that future, which requires coordination in crafting policies that will help create more stability for customers while also ensuring the system has what it needs to remain resilient and safe.
“Our customers want the same thing as our policymakers: clean, reliable energy at a fair cost,” said Sullivan. “This transition we’ve set out on requires cooperation and commitment from all those involved. It is a long-term investment that we all need to work together on to make the vision a reality.”