CT Has Nation's Largest Energy Bills: Residents Struggling To Keep Up, Data Shows

Nearly a third of Connecticut residents said they couldn't afford to pay a utility bill over the past year, according to a recent report based on data collected by U.S. authorities. That might be because Connecticut has the highest monthly electric bills in the nation.

Connecticut ranked as having the highest average electric bills in the nation over the past year, according to national data. That's despite nearly a third of residents keeping temperatures in their homes at unsafe levels.
Photo Credit: *Contributed*

Josh Lanier

12/19/2024 5:28 p.m.

LendingTree released a report earlier this month on how Americans have struggled to make ends meet amid rising prices after analyzing data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). They found that 34 percent of people nationwide have skipped purchasing house necessities like food or medicine to cover a utility bill, according to the report.

Connecticut ranked second in the percentage of residents (30 percent) who said they’ve struggled to pay a utility bill, trailing only Mississippi, where 33 percent reported difficulties, according to the report. That’s likely because the Nutmeg State has the highest utility costs in the nation.

The average utility bill in Connecticut from August 2023 to August 2024 was $254.47, according to EIA data. That’s 37 percent higher than the national average of $185.59, which is up more than 2 percent from the previous year’s figure of $180.

That’s despite 28 percent of Connecticut residents reporting that they kept their homes at temperatures so hot or cold they felt unsafe, according to the data.

Connecticut ranks so high in all of these metrics because of factors beyond the thermostat.

According to the state assembly's Office of Research, most of the average electric bill goes toward delivering energy to homes — a cost categorized as the supply charge. Connecticut does not produce most of the energy residents consume, and much of it comes from areas outside the Northeast.

About 60 percent of the state's energy comes from natural gas, which is susceptible to rate fluctuations as consumption increases. Connecticut has no natural deposit of natural gas. Nuclear power made up about 33 percent of the energy consumed and the rest came from renewable sources such as sun, wind, and hydroelectric, per the EIA.

There are also many federal and state regulations, the impacts of climate change on temperatures, disruptions in the global supply chain — such as the war in Ukraine — and inflation all play a major role in why monthly utility bills continue to rise, according to state researchers and trade groups.

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