OPINION: Lamont snoozes while electricity rates spike

As we round the corner into high election season, Connecticut Republicans have settled on a topic they might use to at least limit their losses in November.They've become the party of lowering electric rates, at any cost, even if it means proposing a siphoning of tax dollars from the general fund or rainy day surpluses, the kind of wanton spending they usually fume over.I'll give them credit here.Republicans seem to have finally found their strategic issue for an election season that otherwise looks pretty bleak for them. Everyone is angry about the crazy high electric bills they've been getting this summer. It does seem to be a winning issue for the beleaguered GOP.After all, Connecticut doesn't otherwise seem very disposed this year to vote for candidates from a party with a convicted felon at the head of their ticket, a party that supports abortion bans, opposes gun safety laws, tried really hard to repeal affordable health care and is cool, as their leader says, with letting President Vladimir Putin's Russia do "whatever the hell they want" in Europe.Let's rail, the GOP in Connecticut has decided, about soaring electric bills.Lucky for Connecticut Republicans, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont seems this summer like sleepy Ned, acknowledging the pain of rising electric rates ―they are after all, among the highest in the county ― while shrugging them off as a long-term problem.He suggested not long ago he might be open to the idea of a special session to talk about an electricity cost solution, but then said no.Indeed, the governor's letter rejecting the Republicans fevered pitch for a special session, arrived one minute before a recent GOP press conference complaining about the governor's apparent indifference to the immediate consumer crisis.Lamont told the Republicans he's been looking at the issues, worrying about long term energy supplies and discussing "our energy future five to ten years out" from now.It's the long view from a very rich guy who's probably never seen his electric bill, let alone sat down to write a check to pay it."I firmly believe this is not a partisan issue," the governor wrote to the Republicans.I guess it isn't when you're not on the ballot this year, and those in your party who are feel pretty safe.The Republicans are targeting some of the low-hanging fruit of the current and pending electricity price hikes, money to pay for the costs of customer nonpayments during an extended COVID-19 pandemic shutoff holiday and what will be spent on building electric car chargers.The cost of expensive clean energy from Millstone Nuclear Station is an enormous cost driver.It's not a big part of the increases, but I would certainly agree with the Republicans that all electric ratepayers, including drivers of gas cars, should not have to bear the cost of new chargers.Indeed, the car manufacturers seem to be building out their charging networks all on their own. Why must the state?Although they disagree on the urgency of the moment, Democrats and Republicans do seem to agree the electric system in Connecticut is broken and high costs are the result.A whole new approach, including the way the big utilities are regulated, is desperately needed.Solutions are not going to materialize before the election, no matter how high Republicans jump up and down at the press conferences called to blame expensive electricity increases on the governor.But it is an issue that is not going away and may come to some day haunt the Democrats, if a Trump-sodden Republican party doesn't completely implode by then.This is the opinion of David Collins.d.collins@theday.com