A Democratic lawmaker whose company racked up more than $1 million in fines with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority will have to undergo further vetting before gaining an appointment he’s seeking with the utilities regulator, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday.
Lamont had announced plans last month to appoint Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, to PURA as part of a deal to reappoint the authority’s chairwoman Marissa Gillett for another four-year term. But last week, reports revealed that the longtime legislator owned a stake in a third-party electric supplier that was repeatedly sanctioned by PURA before the company has its license pulled early last year.
Lamont, who returned to the State Capitol from an overseas trip to India Monday, was repeatedly asked by reporters about Fonfara’s business dealings, to which the governor replied that political appointees are typically subject to a background check.
“The nature of his conflict with PURA is a problem, but I’ll see if it’s a long standing problem or something they’re going to resolve in the next few months,” Lamont said.
The governor added that he has no immediate plans to appoint Fonfara to an open seat on PURA. Fonfara is prevented — for now — from joining the commission until his legislative term ends in 2027.
Fonfara’s part ownership of the company, Wattifi Inc., was first reported by CT Insider last week. He listed himself as a “partner” in the company on financial disclosure forms filed with the Office of State Ethics, CT Mirror confirmed. The company shuttered in 2023.
According to other records provided by PURA, Wattifi was ordered by regulators to pay the state’s two largest electric utilities, Eversource and United Illuminating, a total of $57,168 in July 2023 as part of an effort to overhaul the design and information provided on customers’ bills.
Wattifi, which filed a notice of dissolution with the Secretary of the State’s office that September, never responded to PURA’s order and was subsequently assessed a $5,000-a-day late penalty for failing to pay. Those penalties continued to accrue until Wattifi’s license was revoked last May, at which point it owed the state $1.1 million.
A spokeswoman for PURA confirmed on Monday that Wattifi continues to owe that amount, as well as the original $57,168 fee to the utilities.
Speaking to reporters last week, Fonfara disputed the fairness of the original fee and subsequent fines. But he did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.
The deal to appoint Fonfara came in the midst of Gillett’s difficult confirmation battle before lawmakers to secure a second stint on the commission. Fonfara is a former longtime chairman of the legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee, which oversees electric policy and laws relating to public utilities.
Prior to a pivotal committee vote on Feb. 20, Fonfara had publicly expressed concerns about Gillett’s leadership and her contentious relationship with the utilities. The deal Lamont reached to keep Gillett at PURA would remove the authority from within the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, turning it into a quasi-public agency and making Fonfara’s appointment possible.
As part of the deal, Lamont also said he would appoint Fonfara and former state Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, to two open seat on the commission. Afterward, Fonfara voted to advance Gillett’s nomination.
PURA commissioners earn an annual salary of between $151,950 and $207,189, according to the state’s jobs website. Fonfara did not report recieving any income from Wattifi on his financial disclosures between 2019 and 2023.
Asked Monday whether he knew of Fonfara’s prior conflicts before PURA, Lamont said he’d “heard rumors,” in recent weeks but nothing definitive.
“All I know is the Republican and Democratic leadership both wanted a legislator on the board,” Lamont said. “John was one of those two people, and they said you’re not going to get Marissa through unless we make an arrangement.”
One of the harshest critics of the deal has been Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, who said that the news of Fonfara’s business before PURA only added to concerns.
“It further entrenches the point that the senator has a conflict of interest at the very least,” Harding said. “The governor has to see that.”
Harding has also called on Lamont to pause Gillett’s confirmation amid the scrutiny into how the deal was made to ensure she had enough votes to advance out of the legislature’s Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee.
Lamont spokesman Rob Blanchard said Monday that the governor is not backing off of his appointment of Gillett, and that the schedule for her confirmation vote in the House and Senate is up to legislative leaders.