A top executive of Northeast Utilities assured investor analysts Thursday that the Hartford company will not turn to the bottom line to pay $100 million in costs related to restoring power after the remnants of Hurricane Irene hit New England, but has not determined exactly how it will eventually pay the tab, The Associated Press reports.
Chief Financial Officer David McHale said the Aug. 28 storm was the costliest ever for the Hartford-based utility, with about 800,000 customers losing power at the peak of the storm.
“Now the focus will be on cost recovery for sure,” he said. “We haven’t gotten down to exactly how it is we’re going to proceed with this.”
Separate storm recovery applications or a rate case could be filed with regulators in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, he said. Right now, Northeast Utilities will finance the costs through its credit line and seek somehow to recover the costs in the future, he said.
“You will not see us sort of charge off these amounts,” McHale said.
Northeast Utilities is the parent company of Connecticut Light & Power, Public Service of New Hampshire and Western Massachusetts Electric Co. CL&P was hardest hit during the storm, requiring more than a week to fully restore power to customers. Much of the $100 million cost is related to work in Connecticut.
