“Such fees are ‘junk fees’ that disproportionately impact people who are already struggling to make ends meet. Further, the ‘Reconnect Charges’ are deceptively named, insufficiently disclosed, and far in excess of the negligible costs to Defendant of restoring electric service that it has previously disconnected due to non-payment.”

💡 This establishes that the fees are both hidden from customers and vastly inflated beyond any legitimate operational cost

“In the past, a private utility like Defendant had to come out to a property and physically disconnect/connect a wire or close/open a valve in order to disconnect or reconnect utility service. Today, smart metering devices and computerized billing automation means service can be suspended or reactivated electronically, with the push of a button at an office miles away.”

💡 This proves the company eliminated its own costs but kept charging customers the same high fee

“As a result, Defendant’s $102 ‘Reconnect Charges’ far exceed Eversource’s actual cost of reconnecting electric service and is nothing more than an expensive excuse to collect money from struggling consumers who can afford it the least—who are already struggling to keep the lights on.”

💡 The complaint directly accuses Eversource of exploiting vulnerable customers for profit with no legitimate business justification

“Indeed, paying Defendant’s ‘Reconnect Charge’ does not forgive any past due balance – that amount is still due. It is merely a fee to provide consumers with the privilege of paying for electricity again.”

💡 This shows the fee serves no debt-reduction purpose and is simply an additional penalty on top of existing arrearages

“The ‘Reconnect Charge’ can have devastating impacts, and itself contributes to a further power shutoffs and consumers struggle to keep current with payments, creating a cycle of disconnect then assessment of ‘Reconnect Charges’ that becomes in essence a tax for being poor.”

💡 This reveals how the fee structure perpetuates financial hardship and traps families in repeated disconnection cycles

“That the ‘Reconnect Charge’ bears no relationship to Eversource’s actual costs is further evidenced by other utilities around the nation. Many other utilities providers charge no fee whatsoever for so-called ‘reconnection,’ or only a nominal $5 fee. For example, Florida Power & Light (FPL) and Ameren (operating in Missouri) each charge only $5 for reconnection. Others charge nothing.”

💡 Industry comparison demonstrates Eversource’s fee is an outlier that cannot be justified by standard utility economics

“In addition, Eversource’s fine print disclosures failed to prominently and adequately disclose such charges to new consumers, and in any event provided no clear contractual authority for it to assess $102 ‘Reconnect Charges’ in all circumstances, as is its policy.”

💡 This establishes both the deceptive nature of the fee and the lack of contractual foundation for the uniform charge

“The assessment of ‘Reconnect Charges’ to access a basic human need, electricity, is unconscionable and punitive, and serves no valid public purpose. Such fees only add hardship to hardship and are unconscionable.”

💡 The complaint frames electricity as a fundamental necessity and the fees as morally unjustifiable penalties

“Eversource’s smart metering devices and computerized billing automation means service can be suspended or reactivated electronically, with the push of a button at an office miles away. There is, in other words, no ‘disconnection’ of a meter at all, and thus no need to ‘reconnect’ such a meter.”

💡 This technical detail proves the reconnection terminology itself is misleading since no physical reconnection occurs

“Eversource’s cessation of electric service to a household occurs with a keystroke, and is little different that when a user of a subscription website is blocked from accessing the website when payment fails. Reactivation is as simple—and costless.”

💡 This analogy makes clear how trivial and automated the reconnection process has become in the smart meter era

“Junk fees are fees that are mandatory but not transparently disclosed to consumers. Consumers are lured in with the promise of a low price, but when they get to the register, they discover that price was never really available. Junk fees harm consumers and actively undermine competition by making it impractical for consumers to compare prices, a linchpin of our economic system.”

💡 This White House definition directly applies to Eversource’s practice of hiding reconnection fees until after disconnection

“[M]any consumers said that sellers often do not advertise the total amount they will have to pay, and disclose fees only after they are well into completing the transaction. They also said that sellers often misrepresent or do not adequately disclose the nature or purpose of certain fees, leaving consumers wondering what they are paying for or if they are getting anything at all for the fee charged.”

💡 Federal Trade Commission research validates the complaint’s claim that Eversource follows a pattern of inadequate fee disclosure

“In or around August, 2024, Eversource turned off Plaintiff Newton’s electricity service. Desperate to have service turned back on, Plaintiff called and made payment arrangements with Eversource to turn service back on. Eversource did not inform Plaintiff that, on her next monthly bill, Eversource would assess her a $102 ‘Reconnect Charge’.”

💡 This real-world example shows how customers learn about fees only after the fact when they have no ability to avoid them

“When disconnection occurs, household members are essentially prevented from functioning in our modern society, and extreme risks to health, safety, and economic security occur. As one might expect, electricity disconnection begins a major, all-consuming crisis for the household affected—a mad scramble to try to get power turned back on, at any cost.”

💡 This captures the desperate circumstances under which customers must pay whatever Eversource demands to restore power

“Defendant exploits these household crises to pad its bottom line, extracting ‘Reconnect Charges’ that households have no choice but to pay under extreme duress.”

💡 The complaint directly accuses Eversource of intentionally leveraging customer emergencies for corporate profit