Editing Eversource Energy (section)

== Price manipulation controversy ==
In 2017, an environmental group accused Eversource and [[Avangrid]] of driving up electric, gas rates over several winters<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/talking-points/2017/10/13/the-week-business/Eooyag6H74Q83W4JewxSvI/story.html|title=The week in business - The Boston Globe|work=BostonGlobe.com|access-date=2017-11-20|archive-date=2017-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031333/https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/talking-points/2017/10/13/the-week-business/Eooyag6H74Q83W4JewxSvI/story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> by buying up shipment capacity on a major pipeline that they ultimately did not use. The [[Environmental Defense Fund]] said both utilities routinely reserved big deliveries of natural gas on the Algonquin pipeline system for frigid days, but then sharply reduced those orders too late in the day for others to use that capacity. Those orders had the effect of driving up wholesale prices for natural gas during peak winter heating periods and in turn increasing the costs of electricity generated by gas-fired power plants. The two utilities “engaged in behavior that would tend to have the largest impact on prices,” said N. Jonathan Peress, a senior director at the New York-based environmental group. “That implies they knew their efforts would have some sort of pricing impact that would provide them with some commercial benefit.” Representatives for both utilities denied they did anything improper.

Massachusetts Attorney General [[Maura Healey]] is reviewing the findings,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-local-utilities-gamed-the-natural-gas-market-1510869318|title=How Local Utilities Gamed the Natural-Gas Market|last=Krupp|first=Fred|date=2017-11-17|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2017-11-20|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=2017-11-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119151757/https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-local-utilities-gamed-the-natural-gas-market-1510869318|url-status=live}}</ref>{{update inline|date=November 2019}} U.S. Senator [[Richard Blumenthal]] asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to open an investigation on the matter, and both the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and the Massachusetts Public Utilities Department are launching inquiries of their own.

On Feb. 27, 2018, FERC announced their investigation “revealed no evidence of anticompetitive withholding of natural gas pipeline capacity on Algonquin Gas Transmission by New England shippers.”  It said that following an extensive review Commission staff “determined that EDF’s study was flawed and led to incorrect conclusions about the alleged withholding.”<ref>{{Cite press release |title=FERC Staff Inquiry Finds No Withholding of Pipeline Capacity in New England Markets |date=February 27, 2018 |publisher=Federal Energy Regulatory Commission |url=https://www.ferc.gov/media/news-releases/2018/2018-1/02-27-18.asp#.WriR2-jwbrc}}</ref>

A class-action lawsuit<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://fox61.com/2017/11/16/6-new-england-residents-file-class-action-lawsuit-for-overcharging-against-eversource-avangrid/|title=6 New England residents file class-action lawsuit for overcharging against Eversource, Avangrid|date=2017-11-17|work=FOX 61|access-date=2017-11-20|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031903/http://fox61.com/2017/11/16/6-new-england-residents-file-class-action-lawsuit-for-overcharging-against-eversource-avangrid/|url-status=live}}</ref> filed on November 14, 2017, against Avangrid, Inc. and Eversource Energy claims the two companies caused electricity consumers to incur overcharges of $3.6 billion in a years-long scheme that impacted six states and affected 14.7 million people.  The lawsuit states that 7.1 million retail electricity customers and an overall population of 14.7 million people have been affected by Eversource and Avangrid's “unique monopoly” spanning at least from 2013 to 2016. On June 10, 2019, the case was thrown out of court as the judge stated natural gas prices are federally regulated and could not be interfered with by the court.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/eversource-avangrid-dismiss/judge-dismisses-antitrust-lawsuit-against-energy-providers-eversource-avangrid-idUSL2N23H1H6|title=Judge dismisses antitrust lawsuit against energy providers Eversource, Avangrid - Reuters|work=Reuters.com|access-date=2019-06-10|archive-date=2019-06-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190611045411/https://www.reuters.com/article/eversource-avangrid-dismiss/judge-dismisses-antitrust-lawsuit-against-energy-providers-eversource-avangrid-idUSL2N23H1H6|url-status=live}}</ref>