Eversource 2013 Annual Report Download - page 71

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Board of Trustees and Shareholders of Northeast Utilities:
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Northeast Utilities and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of
December 31, 2013 and 2012, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, common shareholders’
equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2013. Our audits also included the financial
statement schedules listed in the Index at Item 15 of Part IV. We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial
reporting as of December 31, 2013, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (1992) issued by the
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. The Company's management is responsible for these financial
statements and financial statement schedules, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment
of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Company Report on Internal Controls Over
Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial statement schedules and an
opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those
standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of
material misstatement and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audits
of the financial statements included examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall
financial statement presentation. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal
control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating
effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we
considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
A company's internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the company's principal
executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by the company's board of directors,
management, and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of
financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company's internal control
over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail,
accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that
transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management
and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized
acquisition, use, or disposition of the company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of the inherent limitations of internal control over financial reporting, including the possibility of collusion or improper
management override of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Also, projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of the internal control over financial reporting to future periods are subject to the
risk that the controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or
procedures may deteriorate.
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of
Northeast Utilities and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2013 and 2012, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each
of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2013, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United
States of America. Also, in our opinion, such financial statement schedules, when considered in relation to the basic consolidated
financial statements taken as a whole, present fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein. Also, in our opinion, the
Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2013, based on the
criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework(1992) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission.
/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP
Hartford, Connecticut
February 25, 2014