The debate on Connecticut’s flawed deregualted electricty market wavers between forces that want to reregulate and forces that want to fix the parts of the deregualted market that aren’t working. The Courant reports on State Senator John Fonfara’s position:

State Sen. John Fonfara would seem to be in an enviable position. In 1998, he was one of a handful of legislators who opposed deregulating the state’s electricity generation market.

Almost a decade later, many legislators, including leaders in the House and Senate, view the decision as a mistake. Electricity rates have gone up drastically, and the public is upset.

Bashing deregulation is common at the Capitol, where proposals to rein in the current market system are floating widely.

But Fonfara, a Hartford Democrat, isn’t playing I-told-you-so. On the contrary, the co-chairman of the General Assembly’s energy committee sees a vibrant retail market - an unfulfilled promise of deregulation - as the best hope for residential customers burdened by rising prices.

. . .

On Wednesday, Fonfara gathered electricity suppliers and technology companies for an informational meeting at the Legislative Office Building.

They discussed a future in which consumers can compare prices, use technologies to control their energy use and, perhaps, enjoy unheard-of options such as free electricity on nights and weekends.

But Fonfara finds many of his colleagues calling for more government control. They believe consumers have been stung by electric deregulation, which brought higher rates - not choices.

State Rep. Steve Fontana, D-North Haven, Fonfara’s co-chairman on the energy committee, says he and Fonfara agree that the current system isn’t working. Fontana supports legislation that would promote less reliance on market forces and more government involvement in energy planning, efficiency and the construction of power plants.

“There are two diametrically opposite approaches one can take,” Fontana said.

It’s a hot political issue because of rapid increases. Rates went up an average of 7.7 percent for Connecticut Light & Power customers last month after jumping 22 percent in 2006.

Source: A Switch On Electricity Rates, Hartford Courant, By MARK PETERS, Feb 23, 2007