Connecticut can use efficiency funds to cover budget shortfall, court rules

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Robert Walton, Utility Dive

A U.S. district judge ruled on Thursday that Connecticut could transfer $145 million in ratepayer funds — initially collected for energy efficiency programs — into the general fund to cover a 2017 budget shortfall.
Several groups, including the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, sued the state in May, arguing that using ratepayer funding for something other than its intended purpose violated clauses of the U.S. Constitution and amounted to an illegal tax.
The court concluded that customers were never promised the funds would not be transferred to the general fund; customer advocates say they are considering whether to appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.