Coakley Seeks $9.7M From NStar For Storm Response

By The Associated Press August 8, 2012

A fallen tree and downed power lines block a street in North Andover on Oct. 31, 2011, after a powerful fall snowstorm. (AP)

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is seeking a $9.7 million fine against NStar after her office found the utility failed to adequately prepare, respond and communicate during Tropical Storm Irene and the October 2011 snowstorm.

Coakley’s office made the recommendation in a brief filed Tuesday with the Department of Public Utilities which has the authority to impose the fine.

Coakley said NStar failed to identify the projected severity of both storms, failed to communicate effectively with customers and municipalities, and failed to respond to public safety calls about downed wires.

NStar Electric President Werner Schweiger is disputing the recommendation, saying the company was one of the first investor-owned utilities to restore power to its customers in both storms and was able to send crews to help other utilities in the October snowstorm.

Earlier: Coakley Seeks $16M In Fines For National Grid’s Storm Response

Matt Mulvey

Is the money going back to customers or cities and towns and not into the black hole of the state coffers?
Patrick Mehr

Fining NStar $9.7 million for “fail[ing] to adequately prepare, respond and communicate during Tropical Storm Irene and the October 2011 Snowstorm” will not make NStar a more efficient utility.

NStar is now part of Northeast Utilities whose CEO, Charles Shivery, earned $9,685,240 in the most recent fiscal year according to Reuters (http://reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol=NU.N). Tom May, NStar’s CEO in 2011, earned $9.2 million according to the Boston Globe (http://bostonglobe.com/business/2012/04/10/nstar-northeast-utilities-complete-merger/tMfrPIDKIEIyDkTbGh3uiM/story.html). In light of such executive compensation, is a $9.7 million fine anything to notice?

Each of Northeast Utilities’ 313.6 million shares outstanding pays about $1.37 annually in dividends. The proposed fine amounts to 3.1 cents less in dividends per share, a one-time 2.25% reduction, not something shareholders will notice.

The only way to get NStar to become more efficient is to end its monopoly. House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Ways & Means Chair Brian Dempsey killed the Muni-Choice bill last month — for the 6th time in 12 years — preserving NStar’s monopoly (http://massmunichoice.org). OCPF records (http://efs.cpf.state.ma.us/SearchContributions.aspx) show that Representatives DeLeo and Dempsey were top beneficiaries of donations by NStar’s senior executives over the past 10 years.

NStar is better at lobbying Beacon Hill than at keeping the lights on, its rates low or our trees standing.

Patrick Mehr
Massachusetts Alliance for Municipal Electric Choice
http://massmunichoice.org