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Retail Energy Regulator Affirms Consumer Counsel May Access Confidential Retail Supplier Submissions To Regulator Without Protective Order In Place
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The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) affirmed in a ruling that the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel may review filings for which a retail supplier seeks confidential treatment (with access granted under a protective order) prior to any issuance of a protective order by PURA
General Statutes § 16-2a(b) entitles OCC to access all of the Authority’s records and, "have the benefit of all other facilities or information of the authority . . . except for such internal documents, information or data as are not available to parties in the authority’s proceedings".
Champion Energy had objected to the provision of certain interrogatory responses to OCC without a protective order in place. The information that Champion seeks to protect consists of a customer contract and related material
Champion Energy had argued that statute and PURA orders establish that confidential material is provided to PURA for PURA's own review in determining whether protection is warranted. Parties' access to such information is not provided until either: (1) PURA adopts a protective order governing access, or (2) PURA denies confidential treatment and the materials are made public
Champion Energy argued that the statutory language which states "except for such internal documents, information or data as are not available to parties in the authority’s proceedings", which sets forth the materials to which OCC is not entitled by statute, includes filings for which confidential protection is sought (pending PURA's determination on confidential treatment for such materials), because such materials are not yet available to, "parties in the authority’s proceedings".
However, PURA said that the use of the term "internal" in this language makes clear that the documents to which OCC is not entitled are only PURA's own documents, and not documents simply possessed by PURA from a third party that are not yet available to parties pending a protective order
PURA further said that Champion Energy's interpretation would render the statutory language granting OCC special access to PURA materials moot, by making OCC subject to the same process to access confidential materials as other parties
"The Company’s proposed interpretation would render § 16-2a(b) to essentially mean that OCC is a party with the same rights to view documents as any other party, which would be redundant of the language already set forth in General Statutes § 16-2a(a)," PURA said, citing statutory interpretation precedent which holds that, "It is a basic tenet of statutory construction that the legislature [does] not intend to enact meaningless provisions . . . a [statute] must be construed, if possible, such that no clause, sentence, or word shall be superfluous, void or insignificant".
PURA held that, "due to OCC’s above-explained statutory right to access the Authority’s records and to enjoy the 'benefit of all . . . information of the authority' with exceptions explicitly limited to ex parte communications and internal documents, OCC may view confidential documents contemporaneously with the Authority’s review."
"[T]he legislature has made clear that OCC must have access to all material under the Authority’s review...," PURA stated
Notwithstanding that a protective order has not yet been issued concerning the materials, OCC, in this case, has expressed a willingness to execute a nondisclosure agreement
Docket 14-07-23
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July 16, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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