State Senate leaders have greeted positively the announcement that the Connecticut Public Utility Regulatory Authority will arrange an interstate public hearing Jan. 3 to address increases in Eversource electric rates.

The utility operates in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire and has announced the doubling of rates from 12.05 cents per kilowatt hour to 24.172 cents in Connecticut as of Jan. 1. The planned hearing, which will include Massachusetts, was announced by Marissa Gillett, PURA chairwoman.

“Thanks to Chairman Gillett for putting this one-of-a-kind hearing together,” said Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney, D-New Haven, and Majority Leader Robert Duff, D-Norwalk, in a statement.

“Eversource continues to overpay its executives while ratepayers see prices go up and up. We are optimistic that this interstate hearing will move us toward better outcomes for customers. By working together with other states, we cut off the divide and profit strategy Eversource uses in each of our states.”

On Tuesday, Looney said, “I think it’s important to have all of the state partners in the area where it operates and be able to meet at the same time and to make sure that the same information and the same position is being taken everywhere throughout its service area.”

Looney said while the upcoming rate increase is largely a pass-through of natural gas costs, which Eversource does not set, the utility could do more to help its customers.

In November, Gov. Ned Lamont announced a short-term relief plan that would give Eversource customers a monthly credit of about $10. Also, Eversource has planned to give an additional $30 million, and UI about $10 million, to the federally financed Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

“I think they could probably afford to do even more than they’ve committed to do so far,” Looney said, in order to “cushion the blow.”

Another way to assist would be by “diverting some money from other sources,” Looney said. “And I think that when something like this happens and creates a hardship and a crisis for customers, Eversource has a responsibility to use some of its own resources, its own reserves, perhaps have their shareholders participate in the relief a little bit more than they are.”

He said “one of the things that always disturbs me” is that Eversource acts like a private company in a competitive market, when in fact it has no competition and its profits are guaranteed.

“The world in which they live is a cushioned and protected one, dependent upon the public, and they should recognize that more than they do,” Looney said.

The rate increase applies to Eversource’s standard offer, not to rates customers receive when they get their electricity through third-party suppliers, but about 90% of customers in Eversource’s coverage area take the standard offer.

United Illuminating, which covers 17 towns and cities in New Haven and Fairfield counties, also will increase its rates by about 100%. Monthly charges will average $85 for Eversource customers and $80 for UI customers.

Eversource spokeswoman Jamie Ratliff issued a statement Tuesday in which she said, “We understand and share the concerns over the volatile and historically high fuel prices caused by global events and demand.

“We’re always ready to work with state agencies, lawmakers and other key stakeholders across our service territory, and look forward to all opportunities to provide objective analysis,” Ratliff said.

Ratliff pointed out that the increase in 2023 is caused by the cost of natural gas and conditions in the market “that we do not control and is having a significant impact on customers in all New England states. … We do not earn a profit on the cost of electricity.”

The Senate’s Democratic caucus sent a letter to Gillett Nov. 25, saying members were “profoundly disturbed” by the increases and asking for the interstate hearing.

“This hearing should encompass the process by which Eversource procures energy, how it forecasts natural gas and other fuel source rates and if it is providing their ratepayers with sufficient protections from excessive increases such as we have just seen proposed,” the senators wrote.

“This is not a problem that Connecticut alone can solve. We do not live in a vacuum, and this crisis requires a regional solution.”

Noting that small municipal electric companies have kept rate increases to about 20%, the senators wrote, “How is Eversource, with large economies of scale available to it, unable to compete with small municipal electric suppliers? The obvious answer to this question is simple: greed.”

The letter also criticized Eversource executives, who “are paid millions of dollars. They are paid to do a good job and to deliver for ratepayers — over which they have a monopoly and a guaranteed source of income.”

Instead, profits go to shareholders and do not benefit ratepayers, while executives become “fabulously rich,” they wrote.

Ed Stannard can be reached at estannard@courant.com.