Calling proceeds from the potential sale of its water business “cash coming in the door,” Eversource Energy’s President and CEO Joe Nolan said during an earnings call Wednesday morning that selling Aquarion would help cover the company’s need for $1.3 billion in equity.
Chief Financial Officer John Moreira blamed the Public Utilities Regulatory (PURA) for the company’s cash flow issues, saying the regulatory agency’s new methodology has prevented it from recovering $800 million related to supply costs and arrearages.
PURA no longer allows utilities to forecast costs for supply in rate adjustments. However, Eversource expects to recover that $800 million within the next year, or longer, the company said.
In the meantime, Nolan said Eversource is working to evaluate market interest in the sale of Aquarion. He declined to put a valuation on the company and also declined to provide a timetable.
However, Nolan said the potential sale would move more quickly than the company’s recent divestment from three offshore wind projects.
Aquarion, the seventh-largest water company in the country, would be an attractive asset to many companies due to its size, he added.
“The sale would mitigate any further equity needs that we may have,” Nolan said during the call.
Bridgeport-based Aquarion serves about 241,000 customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire — 92% of whom are based in Connecticut
It had net income of $33 million in 2023 and book equity of $1.3 million.
Eversource acquired Aquarion for $1.7 billion in 2017.
Eversource and PURA have been at odds since last March, when the regulator not only rejected Aquarion’s rate increase request, but decreased its annual revenue requirement by $2 million from the current level — about a 1% reduction.
Aquarion appealed PURA’s decision in New Britain Superior Court and the decision is currently in the hands of a judge.
Nolan said he expects a decision in the coming months.
