Joseph R. Nolan Jr. is the chairman, president and CEO of the state’s largest utility, Eversource Energy, which is dual headquartered in Hartford and Boston.
He began his position at the helm of Eversource in April 2021, previously serving as executive vice president of strategy and customer, and before that, as executive vice president of customer and corporate relations.
The publicly traded company provides electric service to customers in Connecticut, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts. Eversource also distributes natural gas throughout Connecticut through an affiliate, Yankee Gas.
A few years ago, Eversource made a big bet on wind energy, but recently the utility announced it’s divesting its 50% ownership stake in three offshore wind projects in New York and Connecticut, which have been hampered by major supply chain disruptions and inflationary challenges.
Eversource reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.2 billion, driven by a $1.6 billion impairment charge related to the sale of its offshore wind holdings.
Meantime, Nolan recently made headlines when he announced plans to seek a potential buyer for the company’s water business, which Eversource has been bullish on since its 2017, $1.7 billion purchase of Bridgeport-based Aquarion Water Co.
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Aquarion is the seventh-largest water company in the United States, but it has been in a rate case fight with the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority since last March.
That’s when the utilities regulator not only rejected a $36 million rate increase request by Aquarion, but decreased the company’s 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 a temporary stay was granted.
In announcing a potential sale of its water business, Eversource said part of the goal is to “improve regulatory diversity.”
It would also help Eversource raise $1.3 billion in much-needed cash, Nolan said.
Nolan earned his undergraduate communications degree and MBA at Boston College. He started his career running a customer service center for the former Boston Edison Co., a small utility operator.