State regulators have launched a proceeding to conduct a full cost-of-service study and a generic rate design review, to establish a standardized methodology for electric utilities. The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority signaled that it would do so in December 2014, as part of its final decision in CL&P’s (now Eversource) extremely contentious rate case. In that case, PURA chopped CL&P’s overall requested rate increase from $232 million to $130 million, but allowed CL&P to raise its fixed monthly charge for residential customers from $16.00 to $19.25. (CL&P proposed raising that charge to $25.50.) As a result of PURA’s decision, CL&P’s (now Eversource) fixed monthly charge for residential service became the highest in New England, according to a statement issued by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who deemed PURA’s decision “disappointing and unconscionable.”