Mayor Joe Ganim joined Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Saturday in saying he's "deeply disturbed by dramatic rate hikes" local utility companies are proposing.

Ganim said Eversource and United Illuminating "are asking more of local residents than they can possibly give."

"They really need to take a look at the impact it has on just regular people who are trying to make ends meet and now are stuck with a huge bill. I'm going to raise my voice. I think the oversight committees need to take action," Ganim said.

"The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is leaving consumers unprotected," Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal and Ganim said they plan to write formal letters of protest and share their grievances with regulators.

News 12 Connecticut reached out to Avangrid and Eversource. Evesource Spokesperson Tricia Taskey Modifica issued a statement Saturday afternoon that reads, "We understand and share Mayor Ganim’s concerns over the volatile and historically high fuel prices caused by global events and demand. In fact, we recently participated in a collaborative meeting with our regulators, other state agencies and lawmakers across our service territory to identify ways to address historically high energy prices in New England. As our regulators and legislators know, the higher electric prices that went into effect January first are due to the supply cost which is based on market conditions that we do not control and is having a significant impact on customers in all New England states. We purchase power on behalf of our customers and only charge them what we pay generators for producing the power – we do not earn a profit on the cost of electricity."