Dive Brief:

• A bill which would have placed limits on fixed fees charged to utility customers passed Connecticut's Senate on Tuesday, but the House failed to consider the bill before the legislaive session ended the following day.
• The bill aimed to promote and incentivize energy conservation by "reducing, capping or eliminating" residential fixed fees.
• The measure stems from concern over regulastor's decision last year to allow Eversource Energy to raise its fixed rates from $16 to $19.25 per month.

Dive Insight:

Last year's decision by state regulators to allow Eversource, then branded as Connecticut Light & Power, to raise fixed charges significantly led lawmakers to consider limiting how those funds could be spent. But while the Senate approved the measure, the House was unable to consider it before the legislative session ended at midnight on Wednesday.

An earlier version of the bill would have locked in the fixed charges at $10 per month, but was modified to limit utilities from recovering in the fees anything but fixed costs and operation and  maintenance expenses related to metering, billing, service connections and customer service.

While the measure could be taken up in Connecticut's next session, according to Ballotpedia the state's General Assembly runs February to May in even numbered years, meaning lawmakers are at least eight months before the issue comes up again.

The measure would also have required utilities to consider offering net metering to customers generating power from renewable sources.