Attorney General Tong Statement on PURA Denial of New Aquarion Water Authority That Would Have Doubled Consumer Bills

Press Releases

11/19/2025

Attorney General Tong Statement on PURA Denial of New Aquarion Water Authority That Would Have Doubled Consumer Bills

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today praised a decision by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to deny the sale of Aquarion Company to a new nonprofit that would have doubled household bills and gut public oversight of water utility rates and consumer protections.

Attorney General Tong had urged PURA to reject the transaction.

“This deal was a costly loser for Connecticut families and PURA was right to reject it,” said Attorney General Tong. “Eversource desperately wanted to offload Aquarion, and they concocted this maneuver to extract as much cash as possible by guaranteeing the new entity free reign to jack up rates. Eversource is free to find a new buyer, but should understand that any new attempt to end public regulatory oversight over water bills for hundreds of thousands of Connecticut families is going to be a non-starter here,” 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 would have converted Aquarion into a nonprofit entity called the Aquarion Water Authority (AWA), which would have shared 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 did not hide 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 could have much as much as doubled 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
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov

Consumer Inquiries:

860-808-5318
attorney.general@ct.gov