Nearly a quarter million Aquarion customers in Connecticut awoke Wednesday morning with a new, publicly-owned water provider. The South-Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority, or RWA, announced Tuesday evening that it had formally closed a deal to purchase Aquarion from Eversource in a dea l worth $2.4 billion. The transaction created a new public entity, the Aquarion Water Authority, to provide water service in 59 towns, mainly in western Connecticut. The AWA will operate separately from the RWA — which is based in greater New Haven — though the utilities will share a chief executive, chief financial officer and board of directors. In a press release announcing the closing, Aquarion officials said customers do not need to take any action in light of the sale, and they can continue using their existing accounts and payment methods. “Customers should continue to expect the same reliable service they receive today,” AWA President Lucy Teixeira said in statement. “The people who operate this system every day remain focused on delivering safe, high-quality water, maintaining critical infrastructure, and providing responsive service to the communities we serve. Our commitment to customers remains unchanged.” Eversource announced the sale in January 2025, and it quickly drew heavy opposition from elected officials in many of the towns served by Aquarion as well as consumer advocates and state Attorney General William Tong, all of whom argued it would result in higher water bills and less oversight from state regulators. In response, officials at both Aquarion and RWA pledged not to seek a rate increase for at least six months following the sale. After that initial period, the utilities projected that Aquarion would require annual rate increases of between 6.5% and 8.35% over the next decade in order to maintain its operations. The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority originally voted to block the transaction in November, citing concerns with the AWA’s governance structure. Both Eversource and the RWA sued, and in January a judge ordered PURA to reconsider its decision. In March, the authority issued a new decision allowing the transaction to go through despite its reservations, with the commissioners noting that their hands were largely tied by state law and the judge’s ruling. Neither Tong nor the towns opted to appeal that second decision, thus allowing the sale to close. “The economics of this deal make no sense, and I stand by my strong opposition,” Tong said in a statement Wednesday. “The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority approved this transaction and the sale is now happening.” An attorney who represented several towns in protest of the sale did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. “As the Regional Water Authority completes its purchase of the Aquarion Water Company, our concerns about the new governance structure, reduction to tax revenue and future impacts on ratepayers remain,” Fairfield First Selectperson Christine Vitale said in a statement. “We will continue to advocate for Fairfield’s interests and hope for a productive relationship with the new entity.” Anthony Macleod, an attorney for the Metropolitan and Western Connecticut councils of government said that his clients remained “disappointed” in the outcome. Macleod declined go into the reasons why no appeal was filed, other than to say that costs were a factor. “It costs a lot of money to appeal, and they can hope for better things in the future,” Macleod said. In a statement, Eversource Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer John Moreira said the sale would improve the company’s finances and credit profile. “The sale of Aquarion constitutes a significant milestone in furthering our strategic position as a pure-play regulated pipes and wires utility, allowing us to optimize our portfolio by focusing on our core electric and natural gas operations across New England while efficiently reinvesting capital for the benefit of our customers,” Moreira said. RWA agreed to pay Eversource $1.6 billion to purchase the water utility and all of its assets, in addition to paying off roughly $800 million in debt. The sale was authorized through controversial legislation passed during a special session of the state legislature in 2024. That law, which passed over Republican opposition, allowed the RWA to bid on Aquarion and set up the governance structure for the new AWA. Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, said there was a “huge lack of transparency” around legislative efforts to authorize the sale, along with unanswered questions about the finances of the transaction and their impact on customers. “They haven’t described how they plan to pay for for this huge purchase,” Harding said, referring to the RWA. “The only way they’re going to be able to pay for it is on the backs of ratepayers.” State Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, who co-chairs the legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee, said that the 2024 law was rushed through to prevent the sale of Aquarion to an out-of-state, for-profit utility company. But Steinberg, who was one of several Democrats to vote against the bill, said that he believes lawmakers made mistakes with regard to the governance structure — for example, giving AWA fewer seats on the combined board of directors, despite being the larger utility, and not allowing PURA to continue its oversight of the utility and its rates. (Under current law, PURA only regulates private, for-profit utilities.) The closing of the sale also means that Aquarion customers are no longer represented by the Office of Consumer Counsel in proceedings before PURA. Instead, the RWA and AWA have a consumer advocate appointed by the utility’s leadership. Critics have said that prevents the advocate from acting independently. “It has been my office’s honor to advocate for Aquarion ratepayers over many decades,” OCC chief Claire Coleman said in a statement. “We fought to improve customer service and keep rates low while promoting public health and establishing important ratepayer protections. Any public questions and concerns moving forward should be directed to Aquarion Water Authority” Steinberg supported legislation earlier this year that would have amended portions of the 2024 law to address concerns about the authority’s governing structure and regulatory oversight. He said the legislation died because leadership did not make it a priority. “I think there’s still uncertaintly about the core assumption that we need to keep [Aquarion] in Connecticut at all costs,” Steinberg said. “We’ll never know, becuase we never had that debate.” ...read more read less