House approves two utility commissioners amid debate over electricity costs
Shahrzad Rasekh / CT Mirror
Votes roll in on a resolution during a hearing on the nomination of Marissa Gillett to PURA on April 9, 2025.
House lawmakers voted Wednesday to advance two of Gov. Ned Lamont’s nominees to serve as utilities regulators, despite some bipartisan concerns that the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has not done enough to ease voters’ frustrations with the cost of their electric bills.
Marissa Gillett, the chair of the PURA, cleared the chamber on a vote of 91 to 52, which saw seven Democrats join nearly all of the Republicans in opposing her nomination to another four-year term on the authority.
Her fellow commissioner, David Arconti, enjoyed more bipartisan support from his former colleagues in the House, who voted 136 to 9 in favor of his nomination.
“David Arconti and Marissa Gillett have an incredible amount of knowledge and experience on energy policy and are the kind of qualified candidates we need serving on behalf of the state and its ratepayers,” Lamont said in a statement following the vote. “Each nominee has a record of fairness, collaboration, and accountability, and will put consumers first in their decision making and leadership.”
Both nominations now head to the Senate, where they will likely face a final vote in the confirmation process next week.
While there was little doubt headed into Wednesday that either nominee had the support needed to advance out of the Democratic-controlled chamber, Republicans had threatened to take several hours to express their frustrations with Gillett’s leadership, including her tense relationship with the utilities and the cost of electricity.
That debate ended up kicking off later than expected, around 1:30 p.m., and lasted about two hours before the final vote.
“The last four years, in my opinion, have been a catastrophe for the residents of Connecticut,” said state Rep. Tammy Nuccio, R-Tolland. “I really, really, really challenge anybody here to to tell me that I’m wrong if you know a single person in your district that is happy with their bill.”
Both Gillett and Arconti thanked members of the House for their support following Wednesday’s vote.
“I have appreciated the opportunity to discuss my record and qualifications and look forward to continuing the great work of PURA alongside my colleagues and staff,” Gillett’s said in an emailed statement.
Arconti, a former state representative from Danbury who also briefly served as a lobbyist for United Illuminating, also issued a statement upon his nomination advancing. He has served as an interim commissioner since August.
“I am looking forward to working with my fellow Commissioners, PURA staff, the General Assembly and any stakeholder who is willing to come to the table to work towards a better Connecticut,” Arconti said in the statement.
Gillett, who first joined PURA in 2019, has faced a turbulent confirmation process since being tapped by Lamont for another term in January.
That same month, she was sued by the state’s two largest utilities — Eversource and United Illuminating — who accused her of usurping the power of fellow commissioners in hundreds of decisions that were handed down by the authority in recent years. Gillett denied the utilities’ characterization of the process, and Attorney General William Tong has sought to dismiss the suit.
Among her opponents in the legislature, she has been accused of both taking an overly adversarial approach to dealing with the utilities and not doing enough to tamp down on the costs that are passed on to their customers through water, gas and electric rates.
Speaking to reporters prior to the vote, House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, expressed exasperation with the process and publicity surrounding Gillett’s nomination, even as he defended some of her methods.
“To people who really do not like Commissioner Gillett — and she has her detractors, both in this chamber and outside the chamber — my only response is, I think it’s good to have someone who challenges and questions,” Ritter said. “But the board probably needs to be reset and needs to stay out of the newspaper and stay out of this building and do their jobs.”
In order to ease her pathway through the legislature, Lamont’s office announced a deal in February to appoint to two new members to fill vacancies on PURA’s board — state Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, and former state Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R- East Lyme — while also removing the authority from the executive branch and making it a quasi-public agency.
House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said Wednesday that while he recommended Cheeseman’s name to Lamont, he was not involved in negotiations over the deal that has since been widely panned by Republicans.
Fonfara later drew scrutiny over his ownership of an energy business that had been repeatedly fined by PURA, prompting his attorney to issue a public letter last month accusing the authority and Gillett of retaliating against the senator for criticism of a bill that would have enhanced the power of the PURA’s chair during the 2023 legislative session.
A fellow Hartford Democrat in the House, state Rep. Minnie Gonzalez, in turn sent her own letter to her colleagues ahead of Wednesday’s vote accusing Gillett — who she erroneously called “Melissa” — of lacking transparency and putting her own interests ahead of ratepayers.
Gonzalez was one of seven Democrats to vote against Gillett’s nomination. After the vote, she told a reporter that her opposition had nothing to do with her friendship with Fonfara.
“Whatever is going on with [Fonfara] is private, I’m concerned about the consumer,” Gonzalez said.
The only Republican to vote in favor of Gillett’s nomination was Rep. Bill Buckbee, R-New Milford.
“I think she’s done a better job than she gets a lot of credit for in this building,” Buckbee said during the debate. “Nobody gives her the credit she deserves for what she’s done there.”
In addition to her four-year term as a regular member of the commission, Gillett’s two-year term as chair of PURA is scheduled to expire in July. Lamont has not said whether he plans to reappoint her to that role.
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