The chief executive of Hartford-based Northeast Utilities, Charles Shivery, is recovering in the hospital on Tuesday morning after suffering heart problems.
NU temporarily appointed three executives to take over Shivery’s duties. The utility parent company doesn’t have a timeline for Shivery’s return to his roles as chairman, president and CEO but expects his return to be in the near future, said NU spokesman Al Lara.
Shivery is 65 years old.
Shivery’s heart problems aren’t anticipated to impact any of NU’s business plans, including its proposed $4.7-billion merger with Boston-based NStar, said Lara. NU wouldn’t comment further on the extent of Shivery’s medical problems or the hospital location, citing privacy laws.
NU made a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday morning saying Shivery went into the hospital on Sunday after he “experienced a heart-related incident and sought immediate medical attention.”
Running the day-to-day operations will be Leon Oliver, executive vice president and chief operating officer; David McHale, executive vice president and chief financial officer; and Gregory Butler, senior vice president and general counsel. They will report to Elizabeth Kennan, the lead trustee of the executive committee of the board of trustees.
Shivery is one of the principal drivers behind NU’s proposed merger along with NStar President, Chairman & CEO Thomas May. The duo held a number of meetings in Sturbridge, Mass. to hash out the details before making the formal announcement on Oct. 16, 2010.
Following a completed merger, Shivery is supposed to serve 18 months as chairman of the new company, before retiring and leaving May completely in charge of what would be the largest utility parent company in New England.
Shivery would earn a $2.5-million bonus to finish his 18-month term as chairman of the merged company, plus another $31.5 million in post-employment compensation amassed during his NU tenure, according to regulatory filings.
Shivery’s base pay is $1 million. In 2010, his total compensation – including bonuses and stock awards – was $8.3 million.
NU and NStar have struggled to finalize the merger, as regulators in Massachusetts have expressed doubts about the net benefits of the merger to ratepayers and the state’s environmental initiatives.
Compounding the issue was the performance of NU’s Berlin electric subsidiary Connecticut Light & Power following widespread outages after major storms in August and October. Many CL&P customers were without power for more than a week, and the company has come under heavy fire from state and local officials, its ratepayers and several independent investigations over its preparation and response to the power outages.
Shivery played a key role as public criticism mounted following the October storm. He announced NU’s creation of a $10 million fund to pay those impacted by the storm, and later increased the fund to $30 million. He also accepted the resignation of CL&P President Jeffrey Butler, and Shivery announced new executives and the creation of new positions to better prepare for storm events.
Because of the mounting criticism, Connecticut regulators decided to re-open the case for the proposed NU/NStar merger. On Jan. 4, the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority preliminarily decided to conduct a full review of the merger, reversing its previous decision that the agency didn’t have jurisdiction to review the transaction.
For the merger to go through, NU and NStar still need the approval of Connecticut and Massachusetts regulators. The companies have a self-imposed deadline of April 16 to complete the merger, otherwise the deal is dead.
