Attorney General Tong Statement as PURA Preliminarily Reverses Course and Approves New Aquarion Water Authority Expected to Double Water Rates

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03/06/2026

Attorney General Tong Statement as PURA Preliminarily Reverses Course and Approves New Aquarion Water Authority Expected to Double Water Rates

(Hartford, CT) - Attorney General William Tong released the following statement after the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority reversed itself in a draft decision and preliminarily approved the sale of Aquarion Company to a new nonprofit that is projected to double household bills and will gut public oversight of water utility rates and consumer protections.

Today's disappointing decision comes mere days after PURA, reconsidering a prior increase, voted to further increase profits for United Illuminating and fully erased a penalty for the company's repeated failures to remediate contamination at English Station in New Haven.

In filed briefs and in public statements, Attorney General Tong had consistently called on PURA to reject the Aquarion transaction. On Wednesday, Attorney General Tong joined a bipartisan coalition of mayors and legislators urging PURA to reject the transaction as not in the public interest.

PURA initially denied the transaction on November 19. Aquarion appealed and the court remanded the matter back to PURA for reconsideration. None of the underlying facts changed between today and November 19-this remains a bad deal for Connecticut.

"Again, what the hell. PURA caved. We need to understand exactly what happened here. This is an economic disaster for Connecticut families and municipalities and is not in the public interest. Eversource executives and shareholders are going to be rolling in cash while the rest of us are saddled with $6 billion in transaction costs for decades upon decades. Your bills are going to go up to pay for this boondoggle. Not just a little bit. A lot. And the board set up to approve those rate hikes? Never, not once, ever, have they said no to a rate hike. PURA had, and has, all the authority and all the reasons to reject this costly loser. This decision, coming just days after they decided to toss another $2 million to United Illuminating is a very bad sign of what it is to come," said Attorney General Tong.

Aquarion Company and its Connecticut subsidiaries, Aquarion Water Company of Connecticut (AWC-CT) and Torrington Water Company (TWC), is currently by far the largest water company in the state, serving approximately 722,000 people in 62 municipalities across Connecticut.

Aquarion is currently owned by Eversource. As a corporate-owned public utility, it is regulated by PURA, which has authority to set rates and scrutinize its service. In 2023, PURA rejected Aquarion's bid to raise rates by nearly 30 percent. The company appealed and the Connecticut Supreme Court recently largely affirmed PURA's decision.

Eversource sought to offload Aquarion and to reap funds from the sale and shed its obligations while saddling Connecticut families and businesses with the long-term costs and consequences. The move will now convert Aquarion into a nonprofit entity called the Aquarion Water Authority (AWA), which will share resources with the South Central Regional Water Authority (RWA), including a CEO, CFO, board, and board committees.

Nonprofit utilities, such as the RWA and proposed AWA, are governed not by PURA but by their own board, comprised of representatives from the towns they serve. The board, making decisions for both the RWA and AWA in this proposed transaction, must either accept or reject a rate request in its entirety, with no ability for line-item adjustments as before PURA. Not once has RWA's board ever rejected a rate hike request. While the Office of the Attorney General and Consumer Counsel both aggressively advocate on behalf of ratepayers before PURA, the RWA selects its own consumer advocate and sets the advocate's pay.
Aquarion has not hid its intentions to raise rates. The application projected annual rate increases between 6.5 percent and 8.35 percent annually through 2035, with even more rate hikes expected every five years after. Those plans may double water bills for Connecticut families over the next decade.

Assistant Attorneys General Caroline McCormack and John Wright and Deputy Associate Attorney General Michael Wertheimer, Chief of the Consumer Protection Section assisted the Attorney General in this matter.

Twitter: @AGWilliamTong Facebook: CT Attorney General

Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton [email protected]

Consumer Inquiries:

860-808-5318 [email protected]

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