On May 24, NPU’s Board of Commissioners approved a $92.7 million budget for 2017 that increases our contribution to the City’s General Fund by 11% over the current year.

Under the City Charter, NPU returns 10% of our annual revenues from gas, water and electric services to the General Fund. Under this year’s budget, this contribution will be $8.6 million, an increase of $866,841.

This is the third consecutive year of an increased contribution to the City by NPU. Over the past ten years, NPU has generated more than $77 million for the General Fund of Norwich, which reduces overall taxes for our ratepayers.

This year’s budget will fund critical infrastructure improvements to our natural gas, electric, water and wastewater infrastructure and allow NPU to meet increasingly stringent federal and state regulations.

As part of the new budget, charges in the electric component of bills, will decrease by more than 4%, with natural gas rates remaining flat. Water and sewer rates, the smaller components in most residential bills, will increase but remain competitive with other communities in the region.

Nearly half of NPU customers will see a decrease in their bills as of July 1 because fewer than half of Norwich residents are water or sewer customers.