NEW BRITAIN, CT — Gov. Ned Lamont has re-appointed Marissa Gillett for another two-year term as chairperson of the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), a decision heavily criticized by Senate Republicans coming amid rising consumer costs and ongoing questions over deleted text messages.
“Marissa is the most experienced, qualified person to ever serve on PURA,” Lamont said in a statement. “Her breadth of knowledge and experience in energy policy, combined with her collaborative approach, commitment to fairness, and her ability to navigate complex cases will benefit the state and its ratepayers. She is exactly the kind of qualified person we need serving in this leadership position.”
PURA is a quasi-judicial agency that oversees and regulates all the state’s utilities, including electric and gas companies.
Gillett, who has served on PURA since 2019, last week revealed in court that she had deleted text messages related to an ongoing lawsuit challenging cuts to gas rates. The deletion, which her attorney said was due to an auto-delete feature on Gillett’s phone and not intentional, sparked concerns about her commitment to transparency.
Sen. Jeff Gordon, R-Woodstock, discusses a bill to require towns to report housing construction permit activity to the state Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at the state Capitol in Hartford. Credit: Doug Hardy / CTNewsJunkie
“In making his decision, surely Gov. Lamont asked her about her deleted government text messages,” Republican state Sens. Jeff Gordon of Woodstock, Rob Sampson of Wolcott and Stephen Harding of Brookfield said in a joint statement Monday. “In making this decision, surely the governor asked her, ‘What did you know and when did you know it?’”
The governor must provide overburdened ratepayers with those much-needed answers, the senators said.
“We need and deserve that transparency,” the statement from the three Republicans said.
When the state Senate confirmed Gillett’s position with 21 votes in favor in April, 15 Senate Republicans registered “non-votes” and walked out.
House Republican Minority Leader Vincent Candelora said the decision to reappoint Gillett is “as baffling as it is predictable.”
“She misled legislators and the public — and even deleted records subject to Freedom of Information laws,” Candelora said in a statement. “That alone should prompt bipartisan outrage and a hearing before the very legislators who confirmed her nomination.”
Candelora said the governor is “willfully ignoring a crisis, hoping it will fade away.”
Lamont’s decision has its supporters, too. The Connecticut Citizen Action Group, a member-based organization that advocates for climate and environmental causes, among other issues praised Gillett’s reappointment.
“We are pleased to see the governor recognizes (Gillett’s) commitment to CT ratepayers and refused to be bullied by the utilities and their high-priced lobbyists,” Executive Director Tom Swan said in a statement.
S&P Global downgraded the credit ratings for Eversource, Connecticut Natural Gas and Southern Connecticut Gas in December 2024, with the utilities saying the drop is due to an “increasingly unpredictable and unstable regulatory environment created by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.” Moody’s followed suit a few days later.
The governor is required to select one of PURA’s commissioners to serve as the authority’s chairperson in each odd-numbered year, under state law. That commissioner serves in the leadership role for two years, beginning July 1. The authority’s commissioners will then choose from among their members a commissioner to serve in the position of vice chairperson.