Eversource 2000 Annual Report Download - page 4

2
Revenue Growth
(billions)
98 99 00
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
$5.9$4.5$3.8
A GREAT YEAR
NU ear ned $205.3 million or $1.45 per shar e in 2000, excluding extraor dinary items, compar ed
to $34.2 million or 26 cents per shar e in 1999. When extraor dinary items ar e added, including a
write-of f of Public Service Company of New Hampshir e’s (PSNH) stranded costs in excess of
$200 million and a write-down of hydr oelectric generating assets in Massachusetts, NU r eported
a net loss of $28.6 million, or 20 cents per shar e, for the year .
Ther e wer e multiple r ounds of cr edit rating upgrades for Northeast Utilities and its operating
companies. NU’s unsecur ed debt is now rated investment grade for the first time in five years,
and senior secur ed debt at our operating companies is now rated BBB+ by Standar d & Poor’s,
up as many as five notches since mid-1998.
Annual electric sales wer e up 0.8 per cent, 1.9 per cent on a weather -adjusted basis, in 2000. Y ankee
Ener gy System (the par ent company of Connecticut’s lar gest natural gas distribution company)
joined NU on Mar ch 1, 2000, and contributed appr oximately $262 million in r evenues over the
remainder of the year . Since the first two months of the year ar e traditionally the highest ear ning
months for Yankee, we look forwar d to an even gr eater contribution to NU in 2001.
NU’s unr egulated businesses had an outstanding year, ear ning $13.6 million befor e extraor dinary
losses on r evenues of nearly $1.9 billion in 2000, compar ed to a loss of about $37 million on
revenues of appr oximately $649 million in 1999. That impr oved per for mance is due in lar ge part
to the businesses’ better balancing of their supply and pur chase obligations, which included the
transfer of 1,289 megawatts of hydr oelectric and pumped storage generation in Mar ch 2000. Select
Ener gy is the lar gest wholesale and r etail electric ener gy marketer in New England, measured by
megawatt load. In 2000, Select Ener gy pr ovided mor e than 5,000 megawatts of standar d of fer service.
RESTRUCTURING PROGRESS
Electric industry r estructuring has pr ogr essed well in Connecticut and Massachusetts, wher e
regulators have appr oved the securitization of up to $1.55 billion and $155 million, r espectively.
On Mar ch 31, 2000, Connecticut Light and Power Company sold nearly $1.44 billion of securitization
bonds. Wester n Massachusetts Electric Company expects to sell $155 million in bonds this May.
In New Hampshire, wher e PSNH, NU and the state have been engaged in litigation for the past
few years over this issue, a Settlement Agr eement was appr oved, and r estructuring can now go
forwar d. Under ter ms of that settlement, PSNH was r equir ed to write of f in excess of $200 million
of its after -tax stranded costs, was allowed to r ecover $670 million thr ough securitization and will
recover the balance of its stranded costs as a sur char ge on customers’ bills. Customers’ rates wer e
reduced 5 per cent in October 2000 and will be r educed another 11.2 per cent when competition
begins this May.