NSTAR 1Q profit rises 8.6% as temps fall

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BOSTON – NSTAR (NYSE: NST), a utility company serving Dartmouth and New Bedford, today posted an 8.6-percent increase in first-quarter profit to $47.8 million from the year-ago $44.0 million. Earnings per common share increased 9.8 percent to 45 cents.
The company cited increased revenue, both from the seven-year rate agreement that took effect at the beginning of last year and from higher sales of both electricity and natural gas as temperatures plunged.
Electricity sales rose 2.1 percent year-over-year and gas sales rose 14.3 percent, reflecting an 11-percent drop in average temperature than in the same period last year. But operating revenue declined 4.9 percent to $984.4 million as the increases were partially offset by an increase in bad-debt expenses, a decline in non-utility earnings and an increase in depreciation costs.

Dividends paid in the first quarter rose 7.4 percent to 32.5 cents per common share from the year-ago 30.25 cents.
During the first quarter, the company “introduced a new, simplified customer billing statement, expanded our Web-based self-service offerings and installed a state-of-the-art interactive voice response system – all designed to further enhance service offerings for our customers,” said Thomas J. May, NSTAR’s chairman, president and CE).

“We continue to look at alternatives to help our customers reduce their energy costs,” he added. “Earlier this month, we joined the City of Cambridge and other state and community organizations to form the Cambridge Energy Alliance, a $100 million energy-efficiency initiative .… We have also entered into an alliance with Evergreen Solar Inc. to expand renewable-energy choices for our customers by making solar installations more accessible and affordable.”

For the 12 months ended March 31, NSTAR posted earnings of $1.96 per share, compared with the previous 12 months’ $1.81 per share, on operating revenue that rose 3.8 percent to $3.5 billion.

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NSTAR (NYSE: NST), based in Boston, is a natural gas and electric utility serving Dartmouth, New Bedford and other portions of eastern and central Massachusetts. Additional information is available at www.nstar.com.

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