May 26, 2016
New Hampshire Transmission (NHT) will refund New England ratepayers $6.8 million to settle allegations that the company improperly included millions of dollars of development costs in its transmission rates. The settlement resolves a complaint the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in April 2015. The AG’s office argued that New England consumers should not foot the bill for the $9.9 million that NHT spent to develop its proposed SeaLink transmission project, a project which was not selected to be built by ISO-New England, the Regional Transmission Operator. As a result of the settlement, NHT will refund $6.5 million of the costs it billed to ratepayers in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and has agreed to forgo billing customers for costs incurred for the project in 2015, which is equal to $305,000. MA