The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has finalized its decision to allow Berlin electric utility to collect $365 million from ratepayers to recover emergency costs from five storms in 2011 and 2012, reaffirming its preliminary decision to chop CL&P’s original request by $49 million.
Like the preliminary decision issued in February, PURA did not address whether CL&P should be assessed a penalty of up to $143 million for its response to Tropical Storm Irene and the October nor’easter in 2011. Any possible penalty would come as part of CL&P’s next regular rate case, expected to be filed sometime this year.
The $365 million recovery will be spread out over six years, starting no earlier than Dec. 1.
“While we are still reviewing PURA’s final decision on our storm cost recovery, we appreciate their careful review of the unparalleled work, damage restoration, and extensive expenses associated with storm response,” CL&P spokeswoman Tricia Taskey Modifica said
CL&P originally asked for $414 million from ratepayers for those five storms, which also included Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.
The $365 million final decision, filed by regulators on Wednesday, upheld the preliminary decision saying $49 million of the original request already was included in CL&P’s current rate structure.
CL&P actually incurred more than $462 million in costs from the five storms, but did not seek $40 million of that money, as part of its agreement with the state to approve the merger between its parent Northeast Utilities and Boston utility parent NStar. The utility also had a $8.3 million balance in its storm reserve fund, so it didn’t ask for that money.
“Our request involved several historic storms that caused unprecedented damage to our electric system. Restoring and re-building the system is a painstaking, time-consuming process that involves thousands of employees, as well as out of state crews and other resources,” Taskey Modifica said. “We continue to make significant improvements to our storm response and emergency preparedness to provide reliable energy for our customers during all weather conditions.”
