NU Completes $1.34B Sale

Of 15 Power Plants

BERLIN (AP) — Northeast Utilities shed most of its competitive energy generating business Wednesday by completing the sale of 15 power plants to a private equity company for $1.34 billion, NU officials said.

The sale to Energy Capital Partners includes plants at 14 sites in Connecticut and Massachusetts with a total output of 1,442 megawatts. The largest was the 1,080-megawatt plant in Northfield, Mass. Energy Capital, of Short Hills, N.J., also assumes $320 million in debt.

The Berlin-based NU announced last year that it would divest itself of its competitive businesses and focus on its regulated transmission, distribution, and generation operations.

NU officials said the company would use the sale proceeds to invest in regulated utility infrastructure in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. The company plans to invest more than $4 billion over the next five years in the region’s transmission and distribution systems.

“With this exit from the competitive businesses, we have a simplified business model, reduced business risk, greater financial flexibility and increased earnings visibility,” said NU Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles Shivery.

Company officials have said 216 employees — 90 in Connecticut and 126 in Massachusetts — will be affected by the sale, but probably will not lose their jobs.

Shares of Northeast Utilities rose 11 cents to close at $25.12 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.