Officials Push For Rate Freeze, Green Conditions In Utility Merger
The state Department of Energy Resources and state Attorney General Martha Coakley are urging state regulators to require utility customer savings as well as other measures before they approve a merger between NSTAR and Northeast Utilities.
Coakley is calling for the Department of Public Utilities to require a five-year distribution rate freeze for NSTAR and Western Massachusetts Electric Co. or require that the companies create $314 million in savings for utility customers.
The DOER filed its own brief that urged regulators to force NSTAR to "demonstrate concrete, verifiable and enforceable reductions in their reasonably foreseeable climate impact."
The department is calling for NSTAR to enter into a 15-year contract for wind energy generation resources equal to 2 percent of its electric load, or approximately 129 megawatts.
DOER is also calling for NSTAR to issue two requests for proposals for solar power contracts totaling 10 megawatts and to develop an electric vehicle pilot program to identify an economical way to establish charging infrastructure in the state.
Connecticut-based Northeast Utilities serves more than 2 million electric and natural gas customers in Connecticut, western Massachusetts and New Hampshire. NSTAR is based in Boston and has 1.1 million electric customers and 300,000 gas customers in Eastern and Central Massachusetts.
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