Thursday October 4, 2007 n NUSCO's Catie Plante, left, and Suzanne Trong work in Berlin. NU Stock Update At Close: 28.52, down 0.04 Volume: 523,700 shares Summary: Current NU share price and graphs. Contact Us: Send a comment on today's issue. Is there a topic you want to hear more about? Other Closing Prices: Dow Industrials: 13,968.05, down 79.26 NASDAQ: 2,729.43, down 17.68 S&P 500: 1,539.59, down 7.04 Dow Utilities: 507.51, down 0.55 Quick Links: n Yankee Gas and CL&P's '@Work' n Transmission Times n WMECO's 'It's Electric' n PSNH's 'The Current' n Utility Operations Update n NU Video n HR Service Center Highlights · Bethel to Norwalk project is finalist for Global Energy Award · Ads show CL&P's support of communities in Connecticut · Existing Long Island cables de-energized · Public hearings on CL&P's proposed rate increase continue · Five workers die at Xcel pumped storage plant in Colorado Around the Company Bethel to Norwalk project is finalist for Global Energy Award NU’s Bethel to Norwalk transmission project is one of nine finalists for a 2007 Platts Global Energy Award. The awards recognize innovation, leadership, and superior performance. The Bethel to Norwalk project is competing for the Energy Construction Project of the Year award. A decision will be announced at the end of November. (CNN Money, PRNewswire, http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NYTU13702102007-1.htm, TradingMarkets.com, http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/664928/, 10/3) · Editor's note: The project also was a finalist for the 2007 Edison Award this year and received the first Edison Award finalist commendation. It was also named 2006 Project of the Year by Utility Automation and Engineering T&D magazine. · Click on this link for recent major awards won by NU and its subsidiaries. Ads promote CL&P support of Connecticut communities The third installment of newspaper print and radio advertisements featuring third party testimonials about CL&P’s effort to support the communities it serves begin Friday, Oct. 5. In the newest ads, Patricia Wrice, executive director of Operation Fuel, discusses CL&P’s leadership and support of the statewide fuel assistance program. Internet banner advertisements are also part of the campaign. Previous ads earlier this year included Norwalk, Conn., Mayor Richard Moccia discussing the critical role that CL&P and the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund played in helping to bring energy efficiency measures to Norwalk’s Brien McMahon High School and ads highlighting CL&P’s leadership and support with the Connecticut Main Street Center, which helps local towns and cities revitalize their downtowns. · Click on this link to view the latest radio and newspaper ads about CL&P's support of Operation Fuel. Long Island cables de-energized Work is progressing on CL&P’s and Long Island Power Authority’s project to replace underwater transmission cables. The existing 11-mile, 138-kV transmission cable system, which lies on the floor of Long Island Sound from Norwalk, Conn., to Northport, Long Island, has been de-energized. Removal of the seven existing cables will begin this month. Removal of equipment at the Norwalk Harbor substation and the substation in Northport is already underway. For more information on this project, please click on the following link. http://www.transmission-nu.com/residential/projects/lir/default.asp · For more NU Transmission news, click on this link for the latest edition of Transmission Times. Public hearings on CL&P's proposed rate increase continue Three public hearings on CL&P's proposed rate increase were held earlier this week. Connecticut's Department of Public Utility Control is hosting hearings for public comment on CL&P’s proposed rate increase of 4.6 percent scheduled to take effect in January. Attendance was light but the few residents that did attend commented. Click on this link for a brief summary of each of three hearings held. The final three hearings are: · Southbury: Thursday, Oct. 4, 6 p.m., Rochambeau Middle School, 100 Peter Road, auditorium · Norwalk: Thursday, Oct. 11, 6 p.m., Norwalk Town Hall, 125 East Avenue, Community Room · Waterford: Monday, Oct. 22, 6 p.m., Waterford Town Hall auditorium, 15 Rope Ferry Road Click on this link for some of Ray Necci's recent communications to employees about the rate case. Superior service, dedication to customers is part of our job This week is National Customer Service Week and serving customers is part of everyone’s job at Northeast Utilities -- whether one answers the phone at a customer service center, maintains electrical and natural gas delivery infrastructure, reads meters or provides a shared service to serve NU subsidiaries. Throughout the month of October, we will feature examples of excellence in customer service by NU employees. · On the opening day of the Big E in Springfield, Mass., there was a major electrical problem caused by an old breaker in the New Hampshire building. A crew from WMECO disconnected power to the building so a temporary generator could be installed to restore power. A few days later on Sunday morning, a WMECO crew returned to help disconnect the generator and make the necessary repairs. “I’m very grateful for WMECO’s hard work and rapid response in solving a major problem at the fairgrounds,” said Gerald Kiernan, director of Operations. The WMECO team that responded included Elizabeth Albano, Jim Pirog, Lloyd Graham, Bob Lantaigne, Bruce Bosowicz and Mike Maziarz. · An official of Volvo Aero in Connecticut praised a CL&P team for outstanding service in helping the company open its new 32,000 square foot building on time. The store's electrical contractor failed to complete his work so a transformer could be installed and CL&P's next open date was one day before the scheduled store opening. But thanks to a team effort by a number of CL&P employees, a transformer was installed a week before the store opening. The CL&P team included Shelia Smith, Greg Thibault, Mike Dwonszyk, Steve Jackson, Ron Mackey, Kevin Sobolewski and Mark Buonocore. · Share your examples of excellence with us with an e-mail to emcom@nu.com or call NU Today editor Gerry deSimas at Berlin Ext 701-3072. 'Sametime' gives flexibility to NU employees What is Lotus Sametime? It is a tool already on your NU computer that allows employees to get quick answers from each other via instant messaging, share data and edit a document together in real time and hold a meeting from your desk with employees in different locations all sharing the same screen. Sametime features will allow employees greater flexibility with scheduling, less travel time and more cost-effective and timely data sharing. Please use this link for more information. Watch NU Today for future articles on Sametime, Sametime Connect and expanded functionality. Flu vaccines underway in Connecticut NU is offering flu vaccines to employees, their spouses and dependent children age 18 or older, retirees and vendors at various work locations throughout Connecticut. The cost is $15. Payments will be accepted by check only, payable to "NUSCO." Please contact the Berlin Health Unit at Berlin Ext. 701-5906 with any questions about the Connecticut or Massachusetts schedules. Contact Linda Royce at Manchester Ext. 720-2620 more information on the PSNH clinics. · Click on the following link for the Connecticut flu vaccine schedule. The Massachusetts and New Hampshire schedule will be released once they are completed. WellAware's Relief at Pump raffle winners announced Over 100 NU employees and spouses took advantage of WellAware's "Relief at the Pump" promotion in August and either completed the Health Risk Assessment (HRA), Step 1 of the WellAware program or encouraged a non-participant to complete the HRA. The 10 lucky raffle winners each received a $50 gas card. The winners are: John Bennett, Norwalk (YG); John Campbell, Waterbury (CL&P); Mark Fanelli, Berlin; Tracy Gionfriddo, Berlin; Lynne Godbout, Energy Park; Sharron Ireland, Windsor; Irene Meissner, spouse of a Newington Station employee; Lisa Olbrych, spouse of a Technology Park employee; Stephen Shaclumis, Portsmouth and Kathryn Thompson, Windsor. To learn more participating in this years incentive program visit: http://www.wellaware-nu.com/html/home.htm Lending a helping hand: Another record amount raised for area camp For the fourth straight year, CL&P’s golf tournament at the Portland Golf Course to benefit the “Hole in the Wall Gang” camp raised a record amount. The 14th annual tournament raised over $20,000 from sponsors, donations, raffles, entry fees, merchandise sales and golf matches. The money will enable CL&P to send eight children (one cabin) to camp next year. The committee would like to thank the NU employees and their families who either played, volunteered, or were a sponsor. · The committee is also looking for additional members to help solicit sponsors and raffle prizes for the 2008 tournament. If you would like to help, please contact Marvin Plaut at Tolland Ext. 501-3459. · Click on the following link to learn more about the Hole in the Wall Gang camp in Ashford, Conn., where children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses find camaraderie, joy and a renewed sense of being a kid. http://www.holeinthewallgang.org/ Sign up for Veteran's Day parade with Necci, Davis You can learn more about how you can help honor those you protect our country and freedom in the 2007 Connecticut Veteran's Day parade on Sunday, Nov. 4, at 1 p.m. in downtown Hartford. CL&P's Ray Necci and Brad Davis, the morning talk show host on WDRC-AM radio, will host a parade information event on Monday, Oct. 15, at noon in the Berlin cafeteria to recruit marchers for CL&P's delegation and volunteers to help with the parade, New England's largest Veteran's Day parade. All NU employees are invited to march or volunteer. Everyone who participates in the parade will receive a CL&P Veteran's Day parade t-shirt and commemorative pin. · Click on this link for photos from the 2006 parade. CleanMail to run this weekend This weekend, Notes CleanMail will be run against all Lotus Notes accounts. This monthly operation is designed to identify messages which have not been accessed in the last 30 days. The messages in your current CleanMail folder will be automatically deleted unless they are moved to a folder other than INBOX or JUNK MAIL. When CleanMail finishes processing, a message will be mailed to you indicating the number of documents processed. For more details on the CleanMail process, the legal destruction or deletion of records including e-mails, and a related Q&A, please click here . If you have additional questions or need assistance from the IT Support Center, please submit your own ticket through the ITSC Web Site. WAN Outage scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 7 A wide area network (WAN) maintenance is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 7, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Network connectivity will be momentarily lost at the following regional sites: East Springfield, Springfield (Federal St.), Southington, Simsbury, Waterbury (YG, CL&P, LNG plant), Stamford, New Milford, East Hampton, Norwalk (YG and CL&P), Middletown, Greenwich, East Windsor, Plainfield, Newtown, Falls Village, Willimantic, New London, Waterford, Madison, Ansonia, Danbury, Meriden, Talcott, Torrington (CL&P, YG), Cheshire, New Britain, Hartford and Tolland. Employees at these locations will have access only to locally-installed applications (Word, PowerPoint and Excel, etc.) and will not have access to Lotus Notes, Mainframe, Internet applications or any documents or applications that reside on a Berlin or Windsor server (I, J, K, N drives). If you still have network connectivity problems after the maintenance is done, reboot your computer. This outage will be postponed in the event of storm activity. For technology assistance, submit an ITSC Electronic Ticket by logging on to any working computer or ask a co-worker to submit it on your behalf. Information Technology will respond in two hours or less. Recreation Committee events Tickets are available to see the Wiggles at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford, Conn., on Oct. 20, at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are for seats in Section 206, rows G and J. Tickets are also available for the 5 p.m. show on Oct. 20 in Section 206, row J. Tickets are $43.50 each. Please e-mail Toni Rose to order tickets. Ticket sales end on Oct. 9. In the News Contract to support Merrimack project awarded Washington Group International announced that it has been awarded a cost-reimbursable contract by PSNH for its Clean Air Project at its 478-MW Merrimack Station in Bow. Washington Group will provide engineering, procurement support, and construction management services for the installation of a flue gas desulfurization (scrubber) system that will service the plant's two fossil fuel-fired units. The scrubber system will be designed to primarily remove mercury from the flue gas with the additional benefit of reducing sulfur emissions from the plant. (PRNewswire, MSN.com, http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?Feed=PR&Date=20071003&ID=7575115, Trading Markets.com, http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/BREAKING%20NEWS/667276/, 10/4) · Editor's note: The $250 million Clean Air Project will include the installation of scrubber technology at Merrimack Station by July 2013 to significantly reduce mercury and sulfur dioxide emissions. Horse owner says that construction costing him money A homeowner in Wallingford, Conn., is concerned that construction of CL&P and United Illuminating’s 345-kV transmission upgrade from Middletown to Norwalk is costing him money. The owner has five horses but construction has disrupted their grazing area. "It's costing me money out of my pocket because we have to feed them hay now instead of letting them eat grass," said William Taylor of Wallingford. The homeowner is concerned because the grazing area will be unavailable for the next two years. A CL&P spokesman said the land will be restored to the way it was before construction began. (WTNH-8, http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=7159076&nav=menu29_2, 10/3) Restaurant owner files suit against CL&P over meter issue A business owner in East Windsor, Conn., has filed a $15,000 lawsuit against CL&P for an August incident in which police shut down the building because they thought the owner was stealing electricity. Only after they looked inside did CL&P discover that there was no theft of electricity but only a malfunctioning meter. A CL&P spokesman said that the utility apologized to the restaurant owner about the incident. The story is part of another opinion column by the Hartford Courant’s watchdog columnist, who criticized the utility for its policy concerning electric meters and customer service. (Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-watchdog1003.artoct03,0,4236982.column, 10/3) Co-op runs annual disaster drill The Piscataqua River Cooperative (PRC) ran a disaster drill to prepare for a potential large oil spill into the waterway. The co-op runs the mock drill twice a year. The PRC is a nonprofit corporation with three voting members: PSNH, Irving Oil Corp. and Sprague Energy Corp. (Foster’s Daily Democrat, http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071003/FOSTERS01/710030050/-1/NEWS06, 10/4) Manager says high electric costs contributed to closing of mill Schweitzer-Mauduit International is closing four paper manufacturing mills in western Massachusetts by May 2008 because of a decline in demand for cigarette paper, the mill’s key product. The manager of the mill also said rising electric costs didn’t help. The mill in Lee saw its WMECO electric bill rise $770,000 this year. "Massachusetts has the highest electric rates in the country," mill manager Roger Scheurer said. "It's a huge contributing factor." (Berkshire Eagle, http://www.berkshireeagle.com/headlines/ci_7068953, 10/3) Around the Industry Five workers killed at Xcel hydro plant while performing maintenance Five workers at an Xcel Energy hydroelectric generation plant in Colorado died Tuesday when a fire trapped them in a water tunnel where they were working. The workers, who were contractors, were at the bottom of a 3,000-foot-long tunnel that carries water to the plant from a reservoir. They were coating the four-foot-wide tunnel with epoxy sealant when the fire broke out. Four workers were able to escape. The sealant procedure has been carried out yearly since 1967. (Denver Post,http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_7076863,10/4, New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/us/03cnd-trapped.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin, Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com/ci_7071510, Associated Press, USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-03-plant-explosion_N.htm, 10/3) Demand for renewable power may outstrip supply Demand for renewable energy is outstripping supply, pushing up prices and raising the specter that some states may not meet clean-energy mandates. By 2010, demand for clean energy, produced from wind, solar or hydro, will outpace generation by at least 37 percent claims a report due out next week from the National Renewable Energy Lab. (USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2007-10-03-clean-energy_N.htm, 10/4) Domenici, top Republican on energy issues, won't run again Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., 75, said he plans to announce today that he will not seek a seventh Senate term. Republican officials said health problems led to his decision. Domenici, who is considered a leading voice on energy policy, would be the fifth GOP senator to announce his retirement this year. As a leading Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, he was a strong advocate for nuclear power and helped broker major energy legislation. (Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/03/AR2007100302486.html, New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/washington/04senate.html?ref=politics, 10/3) Maryland PSC begins hearings on new market regulations The Maryland Public Service Commission has begun a three-day series of hearings into proposals for a new system to regulate utilities. The hearings were to continue through tomorrow and are designed to result in a system under which utilities can own plants and a portfolio manager is assigned responsibility for purchasing supply contracts to meet demand and restrain costs. The Maryland PSC was expected to decide which system to adopt later in the fall. (Baltimore Sun, http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.psc03oct03,0,6005108.story, 10/3) NRG Energy challenges DPUC decision on power plant NRG Energy has filed an appeal in Connecticut Superior Court challenging a Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control decision to award a contract for a construction of a new power plant to Kleen Energy Systems in Middletown. NRG Energy said the agency didn't follow its rules when awarding the contract to Kleen Energy for construction of a 620-MW plant in Middletown rather than NRG’s proposed 630-MW plant in Montville. NRG Energy said its Montville proposal would cost $32 million less than Kleen Energy's plant. The company claimed some of the agency's assumptions that it used in the decision-making process ranged from "remote" to "far-fetched." (Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com/business/hc-nrgplant1004.artoct04,0,7176897.story, 10/4) Statkraft plans first osmotic power plant Statkraft planned to build an osmotic power plant in Norway. The new process channels the pressure built up when fresh water passes through a membrane, or strong but very thin mesh, into salt water. If successful, osmotic plants could be built anywhere rivers meet the sea. The plant was expected to cost about $140 million. Statkraft spokesman Knut Fjerdingstad said, "It is clean and emission free, and could become competitive within a few years. We believe that it is important to test many different energy technologies for the future." Though much smaller than hydro plants, osmotic plants worldwide could have the capability of generating from 12 terawatts to 200 terawatts (200 million MW) of electricity. (Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/10/03/osmotic-power-statkraft-markets-equity-cx_vr_1003markets12.html, 10/3) Links to newspaper stories in NU Today: Some Web sites require registration to view their content. Registration is free for many Web sites. Most stories on the Wall Street Journalare not available unless you pay for an online subscription. NU Todaystrives to use links to free Web sites as much as possible. NU TODAY is produced by Communications, BMN1, Berlin, twice a week on Monday and Thursday. For more information on the items in today's edition, refer to the Employee Information Board or go to http://nunet.nu.com/. If you have news to report, please e-mail it to EMCOM, fax it to Berlin Ext. 701-3614 or call Berlin Ext. 701-3072. Copyright 2007, Northeast Utilities Service Company