Eversource 2012 Annual Report Download - page 23

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construction will be deemed prudent. The project was completed for $421 million, approximately $36 million below budget, and has
reduced mercury and sulfur emissions by more than 90 percent. On September 6, 2012, a consultant for the NHPUC filed a report with
the NHPUC concluding that PSNH had effectively managed the Clean Air Project.
Sources and Availability of Electric Power Supply
During 2012, approximately 59 percent of PSNH’s load was met through its own generation, long-term power supply provided pursuant
to orders of the NHPUC, and contracts with third parties. The remaining 41 percent of PSNH's load was met by short-term (less than
one year) purchases and spot purchases in the competitive New England wholesale power market. PSNH expects to meet its load
requirements in 2013 in a similar manner. Included in the 59 percent above are PSNH’s obligations to purchase power from
approximately two dozen IPPs, the output of which it either uses to serve its customer load or sells into the ISO-NE market.
NATURAL GAS DISTRIBUTION SEGMENT
General
NU’s natural gas distribution segment consists of the distribution businesses of NSTAR Gas and Yankee Gas, which are engaged in
the distribution of natural gas to retail customers in eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut, respectively.
The following table shows the sources of the 2012 natural gas franchise retail revenues of NSTAR Gas and Yankee Gas based on
categories of customers:
NSTAR Gas(1)
Yankee Gas
(Thousands of Dollars, except percentages)
2012
% of Total
2012
% of Total
Residential
$
212,428
63
$
194,110
52
Commercial
110,493
33
118,124
32
Industrial
14,243
4
61,767
16
Total Retail Natural Gas Revenues
$
337,164
100%
$
374,001
100%
(1) NSTAR Gas’ revenue for the full-year ended December 31, 2012, has been provided for comparative purposes only.
A summary of NSTAR Gas’ and Yankee Gas’ retail firm natural gas sales and percentage changes in million cubic feet for 2012, as
compared to 2011, is as follows:
NSTAR Gas(1)
Yankee Gas
2012
2011
Percentage
Change
2012
2011
Percentage
Change
Residential
18,385
20,595
(10.7)%
12,488
13,508
(7.6)%
Commercial
19,095
19,662
(2.9)%
16,567
17,175
(3.5)%
Industrial
5,205
5,226
(0.4)%
15,787
16,197
(2.5)%
Total
42,685
45,483
(6.2)%
44,842
46,880
(4.3)%
Total, Net of Special Contracts (2)
39,087
38,197
2.3 %
(1) NSTAR Gas’ sales data for the full-year ended December 31, 2012 compared to 2011 has been provided for comparative
purposes only.
(2) Special contracts are unique to the Yankee Gas customers who take service under such an arrangement and generally specify the
amount of distribution revenue to be paid to Yankee Gas regardless of the customers’ usage.
Our firm natural gas sales are subject to many of the same influences as our retail electric sales, but have benefitted from lower natural
gas prices and customer growth across all three customer classes. In 2012, excluding the impact of NSTAR Gas sales, actual sales
decreased, as compared to 2011, due primarily to the warmer than normal weather in the first quarter of 2012, as compared to colder
than normal weather in the first quarter of 2011. On a weather normalized basis, Yankee Gas’ 2012 sales increased due primarily to
customer growth, lower cost of natural gas, the migration of interruptible customers switching to firm service rates, and the addition of
gas-fired distributed generation in Yankee Gas’ service territory.
On a weather-normalized basis, the average NU combined consolidated total firm natural gas sales increased 2.7 percent in 2012, as
compared to 2011, assuming NSTAR Gas had been part of the NU combined natural gas distribution system for all periods under
consideration.