Court Challenge Continues To Last-Minute Efficiency Fund Cuts

Connecticut Public WNPR provided an update on the ongoing legal battle over whether Connecticut's legislative move that swept $165 million from energy efficiency programs into the state's general fund is constitutional. The move has been criticized as a hidden "tax" on consumers, because the state law mandates that consumers pay efficiency charges on their electric and natural gas bills even as those services are dramatically scaled back.

"Given the magnitude and brazen nature of the sweeps, recognized and acknowledged by legislators, it should come as no surprise that this time defendants got caught with their hand in the till," wrote Partner Stephen Humes, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, in a brief. "The legislature knew it was stretching the bounds of its authority. It knew it was doing something the likes of which it had never done before."

A federal judge is expected to issue a decision in the coming months.

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