How Electricity Deregulation Works in Connecticut
Connecticut split electric supply from delivery under Public Act 98-28, passed in 1998, with retail choice phasing in through 2000. Your utility — Eversource or United Illuminating — still owns the wires and handles outages no matter who supplies your power. Roughly a fifth to a quarter of residential customers have actually switched to a competitive supplier; the majority remain on the utility's twice-yearly Standard Service rate.
1998: Connecticut's restructuring law
Connecticut's electric market runs on Public Act 98-28, adopted in May 1998, which required the state's two electric utilities to sell off most of their power plants and separate generation from delivery, opening supply to competitive suppliers. Both utilities were required to divest their non-nuclear generating assets by January 1, 2000; Connecticut Light & Power's affiliate, Select Energy, won part of that generation at auction, while United Illuminating exited power generation entirely. The nuclear plants — Millstone and Seabrook — were sold off separately in the years that followed. Retail choice itself phased in on two tracks: distressed municipalities got access starting January 1, 2000, with the rest of the state following on July 1, 2000.
Connecticut's two investor-owned utilities
Only two utilities deliver electricity in Connecticut, and that assignment never changes regardless of who supplies your power. Eversource Energy (the renamed Connecticut Light & Power) covers the large majority of the state, and United Illuminating (UI) serves the New Haven and Bridgeport areas. Whichever one serves your address keeps the poles, wires, and outage response — a supplier only ever replaces the generation portion of your bill.
Standard Service: Connecticut's name for the default rate
If you don't choose a competitive supplier, you're automatically on Standard Service — Connecticut's term for the regulated default supply rate. Unlike a set-it-and-forget-it annual rate, Standard Service resets twice a year, on January 1 and July 1, through a procurement process overseen by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), the state's utility regulator. That twice-yearly reset means Connecticut customers who stay on Standard Service see their supply price move more often than customers in states that reset once a year, which is part of why the state's Office of Consumer Counsel publishes rate-change alerts ahead of each reset.
How many Connecticut customers actually switch
Connecticut's Office of Consumer Counsel tracks supplier enrollment by utility, and its March 2024 figures put third-party supplier enrollment at about 23.1% of Eversource residential customers and 18.0% of United Illuminating residential customers — meaning roughly three-quarters to four-fifths of residential customers in both territories were still on Standard Service. That's a meaningfully lower switching rate than in some other deregulated Northeast states, and it reflects that Standard Service in Connecticut is a competitively procured, regulator-overseen rate rather than a "penalty" default — many customers find it a reasonable place to stay.
How switching actually works
To switch to a competitive supplier, you compare licensed suppliers' offers (PURA and the Office of Consumer Counsel both publish supplier rate comparisons), enroll directly with the supplier, and your utility continues to bill and deliver, with the supplier's rate replacing Standard Service. Because Connecticut resets Standard Service every six months rather than annually, it's worth comparing any fixed-rate supplier offer against the rate that will be in effect at your next reset date, not just the current one, since a supplier contract signed today is competing against a Standard Service rate that could move again in as little as a few months.
Should you switch in Connecticut?
A fixed-rate supplier contract can be worth it if you specifically want price certainty across Standard Service's twice-yearly resets, or if you're targeting a renewable energy product a supplier offers that Standard Service doesn't. But given that most Connecticut residential customers remain on Standard Service, and that it's a regulator-supervised, competitively procured rate rather than a rate designed to be uncompetitive, there's no default assumption that switching saves money — check a specific offer against the current Standard Service rate for your utility before enrolling.
Frequently asked questions
When did Connecticut deregulate its electricity market?
Connecticut passed its restructuring law, Public Act 98-28, in May 1998. Retail choice phased in starting January 1, 2000 for distressed municipalities and July 1, 2000 for the rest of the state.
What is Standard Service in Connecticut?
Standard Service is the default electric supply Eversource and United Illuminating provide to customers who haven't chosen a competitive supplier, with rates set twice a year (January 1 and July 1) through a process regulated by PURA, the state's utility regulator.
How many Connecticut residents have switched suppliers?
As of March 2024 data from the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel, about 23% of Eversource residential customers and 18% of United Illuminating residential customers were on a third-party supplier, meaning the clear majority in both territories remained on Standard Service.
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