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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2025
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES A. Environmental Matters Eversource, CL&P, NSTAR Electric and PSNH are subject to environmental laws and regulations intended to mitigate or remove the effect of past operations and improve or maintain the quality of the environment. These laws and regulations require the removal or the remedy of the effect on the environment of the disposal or release of certain specified hazardous substances at current and former operating sites. Eversource, CL&P, NSTAR Electric and PSNH have an active environmental auditing and training program and each believes it is substantially in compliance with all enacted laws and regulations. The number of environmental sites and related reserves for which remediation or long-term monitoring, preliminary site work or site assessment is being performed are as follows:
| As of March 31, 2025 |  | As of December 31, 2024
| Number of Sites |  | Reserve (in millions) |  | Number of Sites |  | Reserve (in millions)
Eversource | 65 |  |  | $ | 144.8 |  |  | 65 |  |  | $ | 128.0 |
CL&P | 15 |  |  | 13.2 |  |  | 15 |  |  | 13.4 |
NSTAR Electric | 14 |  |  | 7.9 |  |  | 14 |  |  | 6.6 |
PSNH | 8 |  |  | 6.4 |  |  | 8 |  |  | 6.3 |
The increase in the reserve balance was due primarily to changes in cost estimates at an MGP site at NSTAR Gas. Included in the number of sites and reserve amounts above are former MGP sites that were operated several decades ago and manufactured natural gas from coal and other processes, which resulted in certain by-products remaining in the environment that may pose a potential risk to human health and the environment, for which Eversource may have potential liability. Eversource’s reserve balances related to these former MGP sites were $132.8 million and $115.9 million as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively, and related primarily to the natural gas business segment. These reserve estimates are subjective in nature as they take into consideration several different remediation options at each specific site. The reliability and precision of these estimates can be affected by several factors, including new information concerning either the level of contamination at the site, the extent of Eversource's, CL&P's, NSTAR Electric's and PSNH's responsibility for remediation or the extent of remediation required, recently enacted laws and regulations or changes in cost estimates due to certain economic factors. It is possible that new information or future developments could require a reassessment of the potential exposure to required environmental remediation. As this information becomes available, management will continue to assess the potential exposure and adjust the reserves accordingly. B. Guarantees and Indemnifications In the normal course of business, Eversource parent provides credit assurances on behalf of its subsidiaries, including CL&P, NSTAR Electric and PSNH, in the form of guarantees. Management does not anticipate a material impact to net income or cash flows as a result of these various guarantees and indemnifications. Guarantees issued on behalf of unconsolidated entities, including equity method ownership interests, for which Eversource parent is the guarantor, are recorded at fair value as a liability on the balance sheet at the inception of the guarantee. The fair value of guarantees issued on behalf of unconsolidated entities are recorded within Other Long-Term Liabilities on the balance sheet, and were $0.9 million and $1.2 million as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively. Eversource regularly reviews performance risk under these guarantee arrangements, and believes the likelihood of payments being required under the guarantees is remote. In the event it becomes probable that Eversource parent will be required to perform under the guarantee, the amount of probable payment will be recorded. On September 30, 2024, Eversource completed the sale of its 50 percent ownership share in the South Fork Wind and Revolution Wind projects to GIP. Under the agreement with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), Eversource’s existing and certain additional credit support obligations for Revolution Wind are expected to roll off as the project completes construction. On July 9, 2024, Eversource completed the sale of its 50 percent ownership share of Sunrise Wind to Ørsted. Under the agreement with Ørsted, Eversource’s existing credit support obligations for Sunrise Wind were either terminated or indemnified by Ørsted as a result of the sale. The following table summarizes Eversource parent's exposure to guarantees and indemnifications of its subsidiaries and affiliates to external parties, and primarily relates to its previously-owned offshore wind investments:
As of March 31, 2025
Company (Obligor) |  | Description |  | Maximum Exposure (in millions)
Revolution Wind, LLC and TurbineCo, LLC |  | Offshore wind construction-related purchase agreements with third-party contractors (1) |  | $ | 268.9 |
Eversource Investment LLC, Eversource Investment Service Company LLC and South Fork Class B Member, LLC |  | Offshore wind funding and indemnification obligations (2) |  | 276.8 |
Eversource Investment LLC |  | Letters of Credit (3) |  | 4.3 |
Eversource TEI LLC |  | South Fork Wind Tax Equity (4) |  | 50.0 |
South Fork Wind, LLC |  | Power Purchase Agreement Security (5) |  | 7.1 |
Various Eversource subsidiaries |  | Surety bonds (6) |  | 34.1 |
(1) Eversource parent issued guarantees on behalf of its previously 50 percent-owned affiliate, Revolution Wind, LLC, and on behalf of TurbineCo, LLC (successor in interest to North East Offshore, LLC (NEO)), under which Eversource parent agreed to guarantee each entity’s performance of obligations under certain construction-related purchase agreements with third-party contractors, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $800.9 million. Eversource parent’s obligations under the guarantees expire upon the earlier of (i) dates ranging between June 2025 and November 2027 and (ii) full performance of the guaranteed obligations. (2) Eversource parent issued guarantees on behalf of its wholly-owned subsidiary Eversource Investment LLC (EI), which held Eversource's previous investments in offshore wind-related equity method investments until sale, and on behalf of its previously 50 percent-owned affiliate, South Fork Class B Member, LLC, whereby Eversource parent will guarantee each entity’s performance of certain funding obligations of the South Fork and Revolution Wind projects. Eversource parent also guaranteed certain indemnification obligations of EI associated with third party credit support for EI’s investment in NEO. On September 30, 2024, Eversource parent issued a guaranty on behalf of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Eversource Investment Service Company LLC, whereby Eversource parent will guarantee Eversource Investment Service Company LLC’s performance of certain indemnification obligations during the onshore construction phase of the Revolution Wind project, in an amount not to exceed $100.0 million. These guarantees will not exceed $1.62 billion and expire upon the full performance of the guaranteed obligations. (3) Eversource parent entered into a guarantee on behalf of EI, under which Eversource parent would guarantee EI's obligations under a letter of credit facility with a financial institution that EI may request in an aggregate amount of up to approximately $25 million. As of March 31, 2025, EI has issued two letters of credit on behalf of South Fork Wind, LLC totaling $4.3 million. The guarantee will remain in effect until full performance of the guaranteed obligations. (4) Eversource parent issued a guarantee on behalf of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Eversource TEI LLC, whereby Eversource parent will guarantee Eversource TEI LLC’s performance of certain obligations, in an amount not to exceed $50.0 million, in connection with any remaining obligations under the LLC agreement. Eversource parent’s obligations expire upon the full performance of the guaranteed obligations. (5) Eversource parent issued a guarantee on behalf of its previously 50 percent-owned affiliate, South Fork Wind, LLC, whereby Eversource parent will guarantee South Fork Wind, LLC's performance of certain obligations, in an amount not to exceed $7.1 million, under a Power Purchase Agreement between the Long Island Power Authority and South Fork Wind, LLC (the Agreement). The guarantee expires upon the later of (i) the end of the Agreement term, January 2044, with the option to extend to January 2049 and (ii) full performance of the guaranteed obligations. (6) Surety bonds expire in 2025 and 2026. Expiration dates reflect termination dates, the majority of which will be renewed or extended. Certain surety bonds contain credit ratings triggers that would require Eversource parent to post collateral in the event that the unsecured debt credit ratings of Eversource parent are downgraded. On September 30, 2024, Eversource entered into an agreement with GIP and Ørsted to contingently provide future credit support up to a maximum of $850 million in guarantees, if required, to support third party tax equity financing for Revolution Wind. C. FERC ROE Complaints Four separate complaints were filed at the FERC by combinations of New England state attorneys general, state regulatory commissions, consumer advocates, consumer groups, municipal parties and other parties (collectively, the Complainants). In each of the first three complaints, filed on October 1, 2011, December 27, 2012, and July 31, 2014, respectively, the Complainants challenged the NETOs' base ROE of 11.14 percent that had been utilized since 2005 and sought an order to reduce it prospectively from the date of the final FERC order and for the separate 15-month complaint periods. In the fourth complaint, filed April 29, 2016, the Complainants challenged the NETOs' base ROE billed of 10.57 percent and the maximum ROE for transmission incentive (incentive cap) of 11.74 percent, asserting that these ROEs were unjust and unreasonable. The ROE originally billed during the period October 1, 2011 (beginning of the first complaint period) through October 15, 2014 consisted of a base ROE of 11.14 percent and incentives up to 13.1 percent. On October 16, 2014, FERC issued Opinion No. 531-A and set the base ROE at 10.57 percent and the incentive cap at 11.74 percent for the first complaint period. This was also effective for all prospective billings to customers beginning October 16, 2014. This FERC order was vacated on April 14, 2017 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (the Court). All amounts associated with the first complaint period have been refunded, which totaled $38.9 million (pre-tax and excluding interest) at Eversource and reflected both the base ROE and incentive cap prescribed by the FERC order. The refund consisted of $22.4 million for CL&P, $13.7 million for NSTAR Electric and $2.8 million for PSNH. Eversource has recorded a reserve of $39.1 million (pre-tax and excluding interest) for the second complaint period as of both March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024. This reserve represents the difference between the billed rates during the second complaint period and a 10.57 percent base ROE and 11.74 percent incentive cap. The reserve consisted of $21.4 million for CL&P, $14.6 million for NSTAR Electric and $3.1 million for PSNH as of both March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024. On October 16, 2018, FERC issued an order on all four complaints describing how it intends to address the issues that were remanded by the Court. FERC proposed a new framework to determine (1) whether an existing ROE is unjust and unreasonable and, if so, (2) how to calculate a replacement ROE. Initial briefs were filed by the NETOs, Complainants and FERC Trial Staff on January 11, 2019 and reply briefs were filed on March 8, 2019. The NETOs' brief was supportive of the overall ROE methodology determined in the October 16, 2018 order provided the FERC does not change the proposed methodology or alter its implementation in a manner that has a material impact on the results. The FERC order included illustrative calculations for the first complaint using FERC's proposed frameworks with financial data from that complaint. Those illustrative calculations indicated that for the first complaint period, for the NETOs, which FERC concludes are of average financial risk, the preliminary just and reasonable base ROE is 10.41 percent and the preliminary incentive cap on total ROE is 13.08 percent. If the results of the illustrative calculations were included in a final FERC order for each of the complaint periods, then a 10.41 percent base ROE and a 13.08 percent incentive cap would not have a significant impact on our financial statements for all of the complaint periods. These preliminary calculations are not binding and do not represent what we believe to be the most likely outcome of a final FERC order. On November 21, 2019, FERC issued Opinion No. 569 affecting the two pending transmission ROE complaints against the Midcontinent ISO (MISO) transmission owners, in which FERC adopted a new methodology for determining base ROEs. Various parties sought rehearing. On December 23, 2019, the NETOs filed supplementary materials in the NETOs' four pending cases to respond to this new methodology because of the uncertainty of the applicability to the NETOs' cases. On May 21, 2020, the FERC issued its order in Opinion No. 569-A on the rehearing of the MISO transmission owners' cases, in which FERC again changed its methodology for determining the MISO transmission owners' base ROEs. On November 19, 2020, the FERC issued Opinion No. 569-B denying rehearing of Opinion No. 569-A and reaffirmed the methodology previously adopted in Opinion No. 569-A. The new methodology differs significantly from the methodology proposed by FERC in its October 16, 2018 order to determine the NETOs' base ROEs in their four pending cases. FERC Opinion Nos. 569-A and 569-B were appealed to the Court. On August 9, 2022, the Court issued its decision vacating MISO ROE FERC Opinion Nos. 569, 569-A and 569-B and remanded to FERC to reopen the proceedings. The Court found that FERC’s development of the new return methodology was arbitrary and capricious due to FERC’s failure to offer a reasonable explanation for its decision to reintroduce the risk-premium financial model in its new methodology for calculating a just and reasonable return. On October 17, 2024, FERC issued an order on the remand of the MISO ROE proceedings. The order addressed the Court’s decision that the reintroduction of the risk-premium financial model in the ROE methodology was arbitrary and capricious by removing the risk-premium financial model from the ROE methodology. The removal of the risk-premium financial model was the only revision to FERC’s ROE methodology and resulted in a two-model approach utilizing the two-step discounted cash flow model and the capital asset pricing model. MISO transmission owners were directed to provide refunds for the period November 12, 2013 to February 11, 2015 (the first MISO ROE complaint refund period) and for the period from September 28, 2016 (the date of FERC’s order on the first MISO ROE complaint) to October 17, 2024 by December 1, 2025. The order also stated that FERC does not preclude the use of the risk-premium financial model in future proceedings if the parties can demonstrate that FERC’s stated concerns around the inclusion of the model have been addressed. On March 25, 2025, FERC issued an order addressing arguments raised on rehearing, sustaining the result, and denying rehearing. On November 13, 2024, the NETOs filed a supplemental brief in their four pending ROE proceedings to explain to FERC that it cannot apply the reasoning and methodologies of the MISO ROE case to the NETOs’ cases due to the entirely different set of facts in the MISO and NETOs ROE proceedings. Doing so would violate the substance of the Court’s April 14, 2017 order and would violate the legal standard required by the Federal Power Act. On February 4, 2025, the MISO transmission owners submitted a petition for review with the Court requesting review of the October 17, 2024 MISO ROE order on remand and a December 19, 2024 notice of denial of rehearing. The petition requests review of FERC’s decision to retroactively backdate the MISO transmission owners’ base ROE to the date of an earlier order that FERC abandoned when it issued Order No. 569, treat an underlying unlawful complaint as if it were legitimate, and order eight years of interest as part of the directed refunds. Given the significant uncertainty regarding the applicability of the FERC order in the MISO transmission owners’ two complaint cases to the NETOs’ pending four complaint cases due to the complex differences between the cases, Eversource concluded that there is no reasonable basis for a change to the reserve or recognized ROEs for any of the complaints or subsequent periods at this time and Eversource cannot reasonably estimate any potential range of loss for any of the four complaint proceedings at this time. The resolution of these proceedings could have a material impact on the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Eversource, CL&P, NSTAR Electric and PSNH currently record revenues at the 10.57 percent base ROE and incentive cap at 11.74 percent established in the October 16, 2014 FERC order. A change of 10 basis points to the base ROE used to establish the reserves would impact Eversource’s after-tax earnings by an average of approximately $3 million for each of the four 15-month complaint periods. D. Offshore Wind Contingent Liability On September 30, 2024, Eversource completed the sale of its 50 percent ownership share in the South Fork Wind and Revolution Wind projects to GIP for adjusted gross proceeds of $745 million, which were received at closing. As part of the sale, Eversource and GIP agreed to make certain post-closing purchase price adjustment payments, which could impact the final purchase price. The post-closing purchase price adjustment payments include cost sharing obligations that require Eversource to share equally with GIP in GIP’s funding obligations up to an effective cap of approximately $240 million of incremental capital expenditure overruns incurred during the construction phase for Revolution Wind, after which Eversource will have responsibility for GIP’s obligations for any additional capital expenditure overruns in excess of this amount. The purchase price is also subject to post-closing adjustments as a result of final project economics, which includes Eversource’s obligation to maintain GIP’s internal rate of return through the construction period for each project as specified in the agreement. Post-closing purchase price adjustment payments will be made following the commercial operation date of Revolution Wind. South Fork Wind has achieved commercial operation, and Eversource is in the process of finalizing the construction cost post-close purchase price adjustment payment related to this project, which is not expected to be material. Eversource recorded a contingent liability of $365 million as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, reflecting its estimate of the future obligations under the GIP sale terms, which include the expected cost overrun sharing obligation, expected obligation to maintain GIP’s internal rate of return, and obligation for other future costs. The majority of this liability is expected to be settled upon the completion of the Revolution Wind project. Contingencies are evaluated using the best information available at the time the financial statements are published, and this assessment involves judgments and assumptions about future events. Factors that could increase the post-closing adjustment payments owed to GIP include the ultimate completed cost of construction for South Fork Wind, construction cost overruns for Revolution Wind as well as the extent of construction delays, which would impact the economics associated with the purchase price adjustment, and the eligibility for federal investment tax credits for Revolution Wind at a lower value than assumed and included in the purchase price. The purchase price of Revolution Wind included the sales value related to a 40 percent level of federal investment tax credits. A change in the expected value or qualification of ITC adders could result in a significant loss in a future period. New information or future developments that arise as the construction of Revolution Wind progresses, and as cost estimates are received, reviewed and revised, as well as schedule updates, will necessitate a reassessment of the estimated liability related to post-closing adjustment payments. The Company is currently aware that the construction of the offshore foundations, offshore substation, and turbine tower installations may lead to future cost overruns. The Company reviews available projection of total construction costs, including the latest cost estimates and project timeline. Management has determined that the information currently available does not necessitate a change to the Company’s existing liability estimate of $365 million. The Company will continue to monitor developments, evaluate potential exposures, and revise its estimates as additional information becomes available. It is possible that as additional updated cost estimates become available, or other adverse changes in facts, regulations and circumstances occur, it could result in additional losses and increases to this liability, which could be material. The Company believes it is reasonably possible that there is an additional loss in excess of the liability recorded, but management cannot reasonably estimate a range of loss beyond the $365 million recorded at this time. Total net proceeds could also be adjusted for a benefit due to Eversource if there are lower operation costs or higher availability of the projects through the period that is four years following the commercial operation of Revolution Wind. E. Leases In the first quarter of 2025, EGMA entered into a land and building finance lease that is expected to commence 2026. The lease contains a purchase option that the Company has determined is probable of being executed. In accordance with ASC 842, Leases, the Company will recognize the right-of-use asset and corresponding lease liability, and will assess the purchase option as part of the lease fair value upon commencement. As of March 31, 2025, the lease agreement totaled $18.7 million and the estimated purchase option was $19.0 million.

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