Connecticut SB 426: AN ACT CONCERNING GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT OF ENERGY REGULATION IN THE STATE.

Bill Text

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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 426
February Session, 2026

AN ACT CONCERNING GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT OF ENERGY
REGULATION IN THE STATE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) Not later than October 1, 2026, the 1
Department of Administrative Services shall issue a request for 2
proposals to hire a national consultant with expertise in qualitative 3
research to conduct an impartial study and make findings as outlined in 4
subsection (d) of this section. The deadline for responding to the request 5
for proposals shall be not more than seventy-five days from the date of 6
issuance of the request for proposals. 7
(b) The department shall develop criteria for evaluating proposals 8
relating to conducting such study, including, but not limited to, (1) the 9
anticipated cost of completing such a study; (2) the anticipated timeline 10
for completing such a study; and (3) the experience of the entity 11
responding to the proposal relevant to conducting and completing such 12
a study. 13
(c) Not later than February 1, 2027, the department shall evaluate the 14
proposals submitted under subsection (b) of this section and select an 15
entity that submitted a proposal to conduct the study. 16
(d) The selected entity that conducts such study shall (1) examine the: 17

Substitute Bill No. 426

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(A) Structure of the Department of Energy and Environmental 18
Protection and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and determine 19
if the legislative changes made in public act 11-80 creating the 20
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection accomplished the 21
General Assembly's intended objectives, as indicated by legislative 22
history and other records, and whether such legislative changes yielded 23
benefits for the state, such as progress on the state's energy goals; and 24
(B) structure of energy policy-making and utility regulation in other 25
states, including, but not limited to, states that have deregulated 26
utilities, and (2) make any recommendations for changes to the existing 27
structure to reflect best practices in other states. 28
(e) Not later than January 1, 2028, the Department of Administrative 29
Services shall submit the findings of such study and any 30
recommendations, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of 31
the general statutes, to the joint standing committees of the General 32
Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to energy and 33
government oversight. 34
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:

Section 1 from passage New section

GOS Joint Favorable Subst.