The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, in a Dec. 12 decision, found that the state’s local distribution companies took a prudent approach to managing their gas supply portfolio during the 2013 to 2016 winter seasons and properly met their “supplier-of-last-resort” or SOLR obligations. The agency analyzed data for the peak demand days from the three most recent winters in arriving at the conclusion.

The review began last October following a report by Environmental Defense Fund suggesting that gas delivery scheduling practices by distribution companies in the New England region limited space on the Algonquin pipeline system in order to drive up natural gas and power prices. The report alleged that Eversource Energy and Avangrid Inc. artificially constrained pipeline capacity costing New England electricity consumers $3.6 billion over three years. The paper also prompted a probe by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission which concluded an extensive investigation in February finding no instances of anticompetitive withholding of pipeline capacity in the region.

Avangrid is owned by Iberdrola SA.