AARP Honors West Hartford Legislators for Leadership on Utility Rates
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State Sen. Beth Bye (D-West Hartford), third from left, and State Rep. Derek Slap (D-West Hartford), second from right, pose with AARP Advocacy Volunteers (from left) David Thomas, Tom Sennett and Carol Ann Feldman (all of West Hartford) during an AARP awards event Friday, June 1, 2018 in the Elmwood Community Center. Courtesy photo
State Rep. Derek Slap and State Sen. Beth Bye were presented with an AARP Legislative Achievement Award for their leadership issues related to the affordability of utilities.
Submitted
AARP Connecticut presented its 2018 AARP Legislative Achievement Award Friday to State Rep. Derek Slap (D-West Hartford) and State Sen. Beth Bye (D-West Hartford) in recognition of their leadership on affordable utilities issues affecting Connecticut’s older adults.
The lawmakers were presented with their awards at 11 a.m. Friday at the Elmwood Senior Center in West Hartford.
“AARP Connecticut is pleased to present Rep. Slap and Sen. Bye with an AARP Legislative Achievement Award in recognition of their leadership on affordable utilities,” said John Erlingheuser, Advocacy and Outreach director with AARP Connecticut. “We would like to thank them for their continued advocacy and leadership on the issues that impact Connecticut’s residents,” he said.
“In 2017, their efforts to protect ratepayers in opposing the special deal for the Millstone nuclear power plant were critical. We appreciate their advocacy in helping to protect Connecticut ratepayers from unreasonable rate hikes,” Erlingheuser said.
“I deeply appreciate and am honored to receive this award and to have my work in the legislature recognized by AARP Connecticut,”Slap, who is vice chair of the Energy and Technology Committee, said. “Opposing legislation that could cause higher electrical costs for our seniors was the right vote. Seniors and those on fixed incomes are hit especially hard when faced with high utility costs. We must focus on ways to lower electric bills that will help families trying to make ends meet and small businesses working to grow our economy.”
“Even though this bill ended up passing, I thought I had to take a stand and vote against it,” Bye said. “The bill is a windfall for the owners of the Millstone nuclear power plant, and they couldn’t prove they are in financial distress. Now Connecticut consumers, some of whom live on fixed incomes, may be paying higher electricity prices. That was not a good deal in my mind. I encourage everyone to go to the energizect.com website to choose your own electricity supplier and your own electricity rate; you can save some money.”
The AARP has about 600,000 members in Connecticut.
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This is very much of a generational thing. Nuclear power is currently somewhat more expensive than electricity from gas, but it’s nearly a carbon-free source of energy. So, the younger generation that’s going to have to live with climate change has a different viewpoint from AARP.