Eversource Energy 10-K 2014-12-31

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10-K 1 f2014form10kedgar.htm 2014 FORM 10-K

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**UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION ****WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

**FORM 10-K

TANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
**For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2014 **
or
£TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from ____________ to ____________
Commission File NumberRegistrant; State of Incorporation; Address; and Telephone NumberI.R.S. Employer Identification No.
1-5324**NORTHEAST UTILITIES **(a Massachusetts voluntary association) 300 Cadwell Drive Springfield, Massachusetts 01104 Telephone: (413) 785-587104-2147929
0-00404**THE CONNECTICUT LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY **(a Connecticut corporation) 107 Selden Street Berlin, Connecticut 06037-1616 Telephone: (860) 665-500006-0303850
1-02301**NSTAR ELECTRIC COMPANY **(a Massachusetts corporation) 800 Boylston Street Boston, Massachusetts 02199 Telephone: (617) 424-200004-1278810
1-6392PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE (a New Hampshire corporation) Energy Park 780 North Commercial Street Manchester, New Hampshire 03101-1134 Telephone: (603) 669-400002-0181050
0-7624**WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS ELECTRIC COMPANY **(a Massachusetts corporation) 300 Cadwell Drive Springfield, Massachusetts 01104 Telephone: (413) 785-587104-1961130

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

RegistrantTitle of Each ClassName of Each Exchange on Which Registered
Northeast UtilitiesCommon Shares, $5.00 par valueNew York Stock Exchange, Inc.

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

RegistrantTitle of Each Class
The Connecticut Light and Power CompanyPreferred Stock, par value $50.00 per share, issuable in series, of which the following series are outstanding:
$1.90Seriesof 1947
$2.00Seriesof 1947
$2.04Seriesof 1949
$2.20Seriesof 1949
3.90%Seriesof 1949
$2.06Series Eof 1954
$2.09Series Fof 1955
4.50%Seriesof 1956
4.96%Seriesof 1958
4.50%Seriesof 1963
5.28%Seriesof 1967
$3.24Series Gof 1968
6.56%Seriesof 1968
NSTAR Electric CompanyPreferred Stock, par value $100.00 per share, issuable in series, of which the following series are outstanding:
4.25%Series
4.78%Series

NSTAR Electric Company, Public Service Company of New Hampshire and Western Massachusetts Electric Company each meet the conditions set forth in General Instruction I(1)(a) and (b) of Form 10-K and each is therefore filing this Form 10-K with the reduced disclosure format specified in General Instruction I(2) to Form 10-K.

Indicate by check mark if the registrants are well-known seasoned issuers, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

YesNo
T£

Indicate by check mark if the registrants are not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.

YesNo
£T

Indicate by check mark whether the registrants (1) have filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrants were required to file such reports), and (2) have been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

YesNo
T£

Indicate by check mark whether the registrants have submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web sites, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).

YesNo
T£

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of the registrants' knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. £

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of "accelerated filer" and "large accelerated filer" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Large Accelerated FilerAccelerated FilerNon-accelerated Filer
Northeast UtilitiesT££
The Connecticut Light and Power Company££T
NSTAR Electric Company££T
Public Service Company of New Hampshire££T
Western Massachusetts Electric Company££T

Indicate by check mark whether the registrants are shell companies (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act):

YesNo
Northeast Utilities£T
The Connecticut Light and Power Company£T
NSTAR Electric Company£T
Public Service Company of New Hampshire£T
Western Massachusetts Electric Company£T

The aggregate market value of Northeast Utilities' Common Shares, $5.00 par value, held by non-affiliates, computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold, or the average bid and asked price of such common equity, as of the last business day of Northeast Utilities' most recently completed second fiscal quarter (June 30, 2014) was $14,947,688,864 based on a closing market price of $47.27 per share for the 316,219,354 common shares outstanding on June 30, 2014.

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuers' classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date:

Company - Class of StockOutstanding as of January 31, 2015
Northeast Utilities Common shares, $5.00 par value317,203,765 shares
The Connecticut Light and Power Company Common stock, $10.00 par value NSTAR Electric Company Common Stock, $1.00 par value6,035,205 shares 100 shares
Public Service Company of New Hampshire Common stock, $1.00 par value301 shares
Western Massachusetts Electric Company Common stock, $25.00 par value434,653 shares

Northeast Utilities holds all of the 6,035,205 shares, 100 shares, 301 shares, and 434,653 shares of the outstanding common stock of The Connecticut Light and Power Company, NSTAR Electric Company, Public Service Company of New Hampshire and Western Massachusetts Electric Company, respectively.

Northeast Utilities, The Connecticut Light and Power Company, NSTAR Electric Company, Public Service Company of New Hampshire, and Western Massachusetts Electric Company each separately file this combined Form 10-K. Information contained herein relating to any individual registrant is filed by such registrant on its own behalf. Each registrant makes no representation as to information relating to the other registrants.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

The following is a glossary of abbreviations or acronyms that are found in this report:
CURRENT OR FORMER NU COMPANIES, SEGMENTS OR INVESTMENTS:
CL&PThe Connecticut Light and Power Company
CYAPCConnecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company
MYAPCMaine Yankee Atomic Power Company
NPTNorthern Pass Transmission LLC
NSTARParent Company of NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas and other subsidiaries (prior to the merger with NU)
NSTAR ElectricNSTAR Electric Company
NSTAR Electric & GasNSTAR Electric & Gas Corporation, a former Northeast Utilities service company (effective January 1, 2014 merged into NUSCO)
NSTAR GasNSTAR Gas Company
NU or the CompanyNortheast Utilities and subsidiaries, effective February 2, 2015, doing business as Eversource Energy
NU parent and other companiesNU parent and other companies is comprised of NU parent, NUSCO and other subsidiaries, which primarily include NU Enterprises, Inc. (the parent company of our unregulated businesses), HWP Company (formerly the Holyoke Water Power Company), The Rocky River Realty Company (a real estate subsidiary), and the consolidated operations of CYAPC and YAEC
NUSCONortheast Utilities Service Company (effective January 1, 2014 includes the operations of NSTAR Electric & Gas)
EETVEversource Energy Transmission Ventures, Inc., the parent company of NPT and Renewable Properties, Inc. (formerly Northeast Utilities Transmission Ventures, Inc.)
PSNHPublic Service Company of New Hampshire
Regulated companiesNU's Regulated companies, comprised of the electric distribution and transmission businesses of CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH, and WMECO, the natural gas distribution businesses of Yankee Gas and NSTAR Gas, the generation activities of PSNH and WMECO, and NPT
WMECOWestern Massachusetts Electric Company
YAECYankee Atomic Electric Company
Yankee CompaniesCYAPC, YAEC and MYAPC
Yankee GasYankee Gas Services Company
REGULATORS:
DEEPConnecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
DOEU.S. Department of Energy
DOERMassachusetts Department of Energy Resources
DPUMassachusetts Department of Public Utilities
EPAU.S. Environmental Protection Agency
FERCFederal Energy Regulatory Commission
ISO-NEISO New England, Inc., the New England Independent System Operator
MA DEPMassachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
NHPUCNew Hampshire Public Utilities Commission
PURAConnecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority
SECU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
SJCSupreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
OTHER:
AFUDCAllowance For Funds Used During Construction
AOCIAccumulated Other Comprehensive Income/(Loss)
AROAsset Retirement Obligation
C&LMConservation and Load Management
CfDContract for Differences
Clean Air ProjectThe construction of a wet flue gas desulphurization system, known as "scrubber technology," to reduce mercury emissions of the Merrimack coal-fired generation station in Bow, New Hampshire
CO2Carbon dioxide
CPSLCapital Projects Scheduling List
CTACompetitive Transition Assessment
CWIPConstruction Work in Progress
EPSEarnings Per Share
ERISAEmployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
ESDefault Energy Service
ESOPEmployee Stock Ownership Plan
ESPPEmployee Share Purchase Plan
FERC ALJFERC Administrative Law Judge
FitchFitch Ratings
FMCCFederally Mandated Congestion Charge
FTRFinancial Transmission Rights
GAAPAccounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America
GSCGeneration Service Charge

i

GSRPGreater Springfield Reliability Project
GWhGigawatt-Hours
HQHydro-Québec, a corporation wholly owned by the Québec government, including its divisions that produce, transmit and distribute electricity in Québec, Canada
HVDCHigh voltage direct current
Hydro Renewable EnergyHydro Renewable Energy, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hydro-Québec
IPPIndependent Power Producers
ISO-NE TariffISO-NE FERC Transmission, Markets and Services Tariff
kVKilovolt
kWKilowatt (equal to one thousand watts)
kWhKilowatt-Hours (the basic unit of electricity energy equal to one kilowatt of power supplied for one hour)
LBRLost Base Revenue
LNGLiquefied natural gas
LRSSupplier of last resort service
MGPManufactured Gas Plant
MMBtuOne million British thermal units
Moody'sMoody's Investors Services, Inc.
MWMegawatt
MWhMegawatt-Hours
NEEWSNew England East-West Solution
Northern PassThe high voltage direct current transmission line project from Canada into New Hampshire
NOxNitrogen oxides
NU 2013 Form 10-KThe Northeast Utilities and Subsidiaries 2013 combined Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed with the SEC
PAMPension and PBOP Rate Adjustment Mechanism
PBOPPostretirement Benefits Other Than Pension
PBOP PlanPostretirement Benefits Other Than Pension Plan that provides certain retiree health care benefits, primarily medical and dental, and life insurance benefits
PCRBsPollution Control Revenue Bonds
Pension PlanSingle uniform noncontributory defined benefit retirement plan
PPAPension Protection Act
RECsRenewable Energy Certificates
Regulatory ROEThe average cost of capital method for calculating the return on equity related to the distribution and generation business segment excluding the wholesale transmission segment
ROEReturn on Equity
RRBRate Reduction Bond or Rate Reduction Certificate
RSUsRestricted share units
S&PStandard & Poor's Financial Services LLC
SBCSystems Benefits Charge
SCRCStranded Cost Recovery Charge
SERPSupplemental Executive Retirement Plans and non-qualified defined benefit retirement plans
SIPSimplified Incentive Plan
SO2Sulfur dioxide
SSStandard service
TCAMTransmission Cost Adjustment Mechanism
TSATransmission Service Agreement
UIThe United Illuminating Company

ii

**NORTHEAST UTILITIES AND SUBSIDIARIES THE CONNECTICUT LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY NSTAR ELECTRIC COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARY PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AND SUBSIDIARY WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS ELECTRIC COMPANY

2014 FORM 10-K ANNUAL REPORT **

**TABLE OF CONTENTS **

Part IPage
Item 1. Business 2
Item 1A. Risk Factors 15
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 19

Item 2. Properties 20

Item 3. Legal Proceedings 22 Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 23 | | Part II | | Item 5. Market for the Registrants' Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities 24 Item 6. Selected Consolidated Financial Data 26 Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations 28 Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk 60 Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 61 Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure 140 Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 140 Item 9B. Other Information 140 | | Part III | | Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 141 Item 11. Executive Compensation 144 Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters 169 Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence 170 Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 171 | | Part IV | | Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules 172 | Signatures | | 173 |

iii

NORTHEAST UTILITIES AND SUBSIDIARIES

THE CONNECTICUT LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY

NSTAR ELECTRIC COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARY

PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AND SUBSIDIARY

WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS ELECTRIC COMPANY

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES

LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995

References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to "NU," "the Company," "we," "our," and "us" refer to Northeast Utilities and its subsidiaries. Effective February 2, 2015, the Company began doing business as Eversource Energy.

From time to time we make statements concerning our expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, strategies, assumptions of future events, future financial performance or growth and other statements that are not historical facts. These statements are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can generally identify our forward-looking statements through the use of words or phrases such as "estimate," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "project," "believe," "forecast," "should," "could," and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations, estimates, assumptions or projections of management and are not guarantees of future performance. These expectations, estimates, assumptions or projections may vary materially from actual results. Accordingly, any such statements are qualified in their entirety by reference to, and are accompanied by, the following important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in our forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to:

·

cyber breaches, acts of war or terrorism, or grid disturbances,

·

actions or inaction of local, state and federal regulatory, public policy and taxing bodies,

·

changes in business and economic conditions, including their impact on interest rates, bad debt expense, and demand for our products and services, which could include disruptive technology related to our current or future business model,

·

fluctuations in weather patterns,

·

changes in laws, regulations or regulatory policy,

·

changes in levels or timing of capital expenditures,

·

disruptions in the capital markets or other events that make our access to necessary capital more difficult or costly,

·

developments in legal or public policy doctrines,

·

technological developments,

·

changes in accounting standards and financial reporting regulations,

·

actions of rating agencies, and

·

other presently unknown or unforeseen factors.

Other risk factors are detailed in our reports filed with the SEC and updated as necessary, and we encourage you to consult such disclosures.

All such factors are difficult to predict, contain uncertainties that may materially affect our actual results and are beyond our control. You should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, each speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all of such factors, nor can we assess the impact of each such factor on the business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. For more information, see Item 1A_, Risk Factors,_ included in this combined Annual Report on Form 10-K. This Annual Report on Form 10-K also describes material contingencies and critical accounting policies in the accompanying Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. We encourage you to review these items.

NORTHEAST UTILITIES AND SUBSIDIARIES

THE CONNECTICUT LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY

NSTAR ELECTRIC COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARY

PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AND SUBSIDIARY

WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS ELECTRIC COMPANY

PART I

Item 1. Business

Business

Please refer to the Glossary of Terms for definitions of defined terms and abbreviations used in this combined Annual Report on Form 10-K.

On February 2, 2015, NU and each of its wholly owned utility subsidiaries listed below commenced doing business as Eversource Energy. NU, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut, is a public utility holding company subject to regulation by FERC under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 2005. We are engaged primarily in the energy delivery business through the following wholly owned utility subsidiaries:

·

The Connecticut Light and Power Company (CL&P), a regulated electric utility that serves residential, commercial and industrial customers in parts of Connecticut;

·

NSTAR Electric Company (NSTAR Electric), a regulated electric utility that serves residential, commercial and industrial customers in parts of Massachusetts;

·

Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSNH), a regulated electric utility that serves residential, commercial and industrial customers in parts of New Hampshire and owns generation assets used to serve customers;

·

Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO), a regulated electric utility that serves residential, commercial and industrial customers in parts of western Massachusetts and owns solar generating assets;

·

NSTAR Gas Company (NSTAR Gas), a regulated natural gas utility that serves residential, commercial and industrial customers in parts of Massachusetts; and

·

Yankee Gas Services Company (Yankee Gas), a regulated natural gas utility that serves residential, commercial and industrial customers in parts of Connecticut.

CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO also serve New England customers through NU's electric transmission business.

NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO each report their financial results separately. We also include information in this report on a segment basis for NU. NU recognizes three reportable segments, which are electric distribution, electric transmission and natural gas distribution. NU's electric distribution segment includes the generation businesses of PSNH and WMECO. These three segments represented substantially all of NU's total consolidated revenues for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013. CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO do not report separate business segments.

ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION SEGMENT

General

NU's electric distribution segment consists of the distribution businesses of CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO, which are engaged in the distribution of electricity to retail customers in Connecticut, eastern Massachusetts, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts, respectively, plus the regulated electric generation businesses of PSNH and WMECO.

The following table shows the sources of 2014 electric franchise retail revenues for NU's electric distribution companies, collectively, based on categories of customers:

(Thousands of Dollars, except percentages)2014% of Total
Residential$3,288,31353
Commercial2,471,44040
Industrial348,6986
Other and Eliminations125,8301
Total Retail Electric Revenues$6,234,281100%

A summary of our distribution companies' retail electric GWh sales volumes and percentage changes for 2014, as compared to 2013, is as follows:

20142013Percentage Change
Residential21,31721,896(2.6)%
Commercial27,44927,787(1.2)%
Industrial5,6765,6480.5 %
Total54,44255,331(1.6)%

Our 2014 consolidated retail electric sales volumes were lower, as compared to 2013, due primarily to cooler summer weather in 2014 as well as an increase in customer conservation efforts primarily by our residential customers, including the impact of energy efficiency programs sponsored by CL&P, NSTAR Electric and WMECO.

For WMECO and CL&P (effective December 1, 2014), fluctuations in retail electric sales volumes do not impact earnings due to the regulatory commission approved revenue decoupling mechanisms. Distribution revenues are decoupled from their customer sales volumes. CL&P and WMECO reconcile their annual base distribution rate recovery to pre-established levels of baseline distribution delivery service revenues. Any difference between the allowed level of distribution revenue and the actual amount incurred during a 12-month period is adjusted through rates in the following period. The decoupling mechanism effectively breaks the relationship between sales volumes and revenues recognized. Prior to December 1, 2014, CL&P recognized LBR related to reductions in sales volume as a result of successful energy efficiency programs. LBR was recovered from retail customers through the FMCC. Effective December 1, 2014, CL&P no longer recognizes LBR due to its revenue decoupling mechanism.

ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION – CONNECTICUT

THE CONNECTICUT LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY

CL&P's distribution business consists primarily of the purchase, delivery and sale of electricity to its residential, commercial and industrial customers. As of December 31, 2014, CL&P furnished retail franchise electric service to approximately 1.2 million customers in 149 cities and towns in Connecticut, covering an area of 4,400 square miles. CL&P does not own any electric generation facilities.

The following table shows the sources of CL&P's 2014 electric franchise retail revenues based on categories of customers:

CL&P
(Thousands of Dollars, except percentages)2014% of Total
Residential$1,474,18158
Commercial879,34335
Industrial149,2206
Other43,0501
Total Retail Electric Revenues$2,545,794100%

A summary of CL&P's retail electric GWh sales volumes and percentage changes for 2014, as compared to 2013, is as follows:

20142013Percentage Change
Residential10,02610,314(2.8)%
Commercial9,6439,770(1.3)%
Industrial2,3772,3202.5 %
Total22,04622,404(1.6)%

Rates

CL&P is subject to regulation by PURA, which, among other things, has jurisdiction over rates, certain dispositions of property and plant, mergers and consolidations, issuances of long-term securities, standards of service and construction and operation of facilities. CL&P's present general rate structure consists of various rate and service classifications covering residential, commercial and industrial services. CL&P's retail rates include a delivery service component, which includes distribution, transmission, conservation, renewables, CTA, SBC and other charges that are assessed on all customers. Connecticut utilities are entitled under state law to charge rates that are sufficient to allow them an opportunity to recover their reasonable operating and capital costs, in order to attract needed capital and maintain their financial integrity, while also protecting relevant public interests.

Under Connecticut law, all of CL&P's customers are entitled to choose their energy suppliers, while CL&P remains their electric distribution company. For those customers who do not choose a competitive energy supplier, under SS rates for customers with less than 500 kilowatts of demand, and LRS rates for customers with 500 kilowatts or more of demand, CL&P purchases power under standard offer contracts and passes the cost of the power to customers through a combined GSC and FMCC charge on customers' bills.

CL&P continues to supply approximately 45 percent of its customer load at SS or L

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Item 1A. Risk Factors

Risk Factors

In addition to the matters set forth under "Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995" included immediately prior to Item 1, Business, above, we are subject to a variety of significant risks. Our susceptibility to certain risks, including those discussed in detail below, could exacerbate other risks. These risk factors should be considered carefully in evaluating our risk profile.

Cyber breaches, acts of war or terrorism, or grid disturbances could negatively impact our business.

Cyber breaches, acts of war or terrorism, physical attacks or grid disturbances resulting from internal or external sources could target our generation, transmission and distribution facilities or our information technology systems. Such actions could impair our ability to manage these facilities, operate our systems effectively, or properly manage our data, networks and programs, resulting in loss of service to customers.

Because our generation and transmission facilities are part of an interconnected regional grid, we face the risk of blackout due to a disruption on a neighboring interconnected system.

Any such cyber breaches, acts of war or terrorism, physical attacks or grid disturbances could result in a significant decrease in revenues, significant expense to repair system damage or security breaches, and liability claims, which could have a material adverse impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

The unauthorized access to and the misappropriation of confidential and proprietary customer, employee, financial or system operating information could adversely affect our business operations and adversely impact our reputation.

In the regular course of business we maintain sensitive customer, employee, financial and system operating information and are required by various federal and state laws to safeguard this information. Cyber intrusions, security breaches, theft or loss of this information by cyber crime or otherwise could lead to the release of critical operating information or confidential customer or employee information, which could adversely affect our business operations or adversely impact our reputation, and could result in significant costs, fines and litigation. We maintain adequate privacy protection liability insurance to cover damages and defense costs arising from unauthorized disclosure of, or failure to protect, private information as well as costs for notification to, or for credit card monitoring of, customers, employees and other persons in the event of a breach of private information. This insurance covers amounts paid to avert, prevent or stop a network attack or the disclosure of personal information, and costs of a qualified forensics firm to determine the cause, source and extent of a network attack or to investigate, examine and analyze our network to find the cause, source and extent of a data breach. While we have implemented measures designed to prevent cyber-attacks and mitigate their effects should they occur, our systems are vulnerable to unauthorized access and cyber intrusions. We cannot determine the probability that a security breach may occur or quantify the potential impact of such an event.

The actions of regulators can significantly affect our earnings, liquidity and business activities.

The rates that our Regulated companies charge their customers are determined by their state utility commissions and by FERC. These commissions also regulate the companies' accounting, operations, the issuance of certain securities and certain other matters. FERC also regulates their transmission of electric energy, the sale of electric energy at wholesale, accounting, issuance of certain securities and certain other matters. The commissions' policies and regulatory actions could have a material impact on the Regulated companies' financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our transmission, distribution and generation systems may not operate as expected, and could require unplanned expenditures, which could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our ability to properly operate our transmission, distribution and generation systems is critical to the financial performance of our business. Our transmission, distribution and generation businesses face several operational risks, including the breakdown or failure of or damage to equipment, including information technology equipment, or processes, especially due to age; labor disputes; disruptions in the delivery of electricity and natural gas, including impacts on us or our customers; increased capital expenditure requirements, including those due to environmental regulation; catastrophic events such as fires, explosions, or other similar occurrences; extreme weather conditions beyond equipment and plant design capacity; other unanticipated operations and maintenance expenses and liabilities; and potential claims for property damage or personal injuries beyond the scope of our insurance coverage. The failure of our transmission, distribution and generation systems to operate as planned may result in increased capital costs, reduced earnings or unplanned increases in operation and maintenance costs. As a result of our merger in 2012, we have implemented or expect to implement process and information technology system changes that are expected to provide significant improvements to our businesses. If these changes do not result in the improvements that we expect, regulators may determine that the costs for these improvements are not prudent and therefore not recoverable from customers, which may result in reduced earnings. At PSNH, outages at generating stations may be deemed imprudent by the NHPUC resulting in disallowance of replacement power and repair costs. Such costs that are not recoverable from our customers would have an adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

We expect to invest in strategic development opportunities in both electric and natural gas transmission, but we may not be successful and projects may not commence operation as scheduled or be completed within budget, which could have a material adverse effect on our business prospects.

We are pursuing broader strategic development investment opportunities related to the construction of electric and natural gas transmission facilities, interconnections to generating resources and other investment opportunities. The development, construction and expansion of electric transmission and natural gas transmission facilities involve numerous risks. Various factors could result in increased costs or result in delays or cancellation of these projects. Risks include regulatory approval processes, new legislation, economic events or factors, environmental and community concerns, design and siting issues, difficulties in obtaining required rights of way, competition from incumbent utilities and other entities, and actions of strategic partners. Should any of these factors result in such delays or cancellations, our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows could be adversely affected or our future growth opportunities may not be realized as anticipated.

Economic events or factors, changes in regulatory or legislative policy and/or regulatory decisions or construction of new generation may delay completion of or displace or result in the abandonment of our planned transmission projects or adversely affect our ability to recover our investments or result in lower than expected earnings.

Our transmission construction plans could be adversely affected by economic events or factors, new legislation, regulations, or judicial or regulatory interpretations of applicable law or regulations or regulatory decisions. Any of such events could cause delays in, or the inability to complete or abandonment of, economic or reliability related projects, which could adversely affect our ability to achieve forecasted earnings or to recover our investments or result in lower than expected rates of return. Recoverability of all such investments in rates may be subject to prudence review at the FERC. While we believe that all of such costs have been and will be prudently incurred, we cannot predict the outcome of future reviews should they occur.

In addition, our transmission projects may be delayed or displaced by new generation facilities, which could result in reduced transmission capital investments, reduced earnings, and limited future growth prospects.

Many of our transmission projects are expected to help alleviate identified reliability issues and reduce customers' costs. However, if, due to economic events or factors or further regulatory or other delays, the in-service date for one or more of these projects is delayed, there may be increased risk of failures in the electricity transmission system and supply interruptions or blackouts, which could have an adverse effect on our earnings.

The FERC has followed a policy of providing incentives designed to encourage the construction of new transmission facilities, including higher returns on equity and allowing facilities under construction to be placed in rate base. Our projected earnings and growth could be adversely affected were FERC to reduce these incentives in the future below the levels presently anticipated.

Increases in electric and gas prices and/or a weak economy, can lead to changes in legislative and regulatory policy promoting increased energy efficiency, conservation, and self-generation and/or a reduction in our customers' ability to pay their bills, which may adversely impact our business.

Energy consumption is significantly impacted by the general level of economic activity and cost of energy supply. Economic downturns or periods of high energy supply costs typically can lead to the development of legislative and regulatory policy designed to promote reductions in energy consumption and increased energy efficiency and self-generation by customers. This focus on conservation, energy efficiency and self-generation may result in a decline in electricity and natural gas sales in our service territories. If any such declines were to occur without corresponding

adjustments in rates at our Regulated companies that do not currently have revenue decoupling, then our revenues would be reduced and our future growth prospects would be limited.

In addition, a period of prolonged economic weakness could impact customers' ability to pay bills in a timely manner and increase customer bankruptcies, which may lead to increased bad debt expenses or other adverse effects on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Changes in regulatory and/or legislative policy could negatively impact our transmission planning and cost allocation rules.

The existing FERC-approved New England transmission tariff allocates the costs of transmission facilities that provide regional benefits to all customers of participating transmission-owning utilities. As new investment in regional transmission infrastructure occurs in any one state, its cost is shared across New England in accordance with a FERC approved formula found in the transmission tariff. All New England transmission owners' agreement to this regional cost allocation is set forth in the Transmission Operating Agreement. This agreement can be modified with the approval of a majority of the transmission owning utilities and approval by FERC. In addition, other parties, such as state regulators, may seek certain changes to the regional cost allocation formula, which could have adverse effects on the rates our distribution companies charge their retail customers.

FERC has issued rules requiring all regional transmission organizations and transmission owning utilities to make compliance changes to their tariffs and contracts in order to further encourage the construction of transmission for generation, including renewable generation. This compliance will require ISO-NE and New England transmission owners to develop methodologies that allow for regional planning and cost allocation for transmission projects chosen in the regional plan that are designed to meet public policy goals such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or encouraging renewable generation. Such compliance may also allow non-incumbent utilities and other entities to participate in the planning and construction of new projects in our service area and regionally.

Changes in the Transmission Operating Agreement, the New England Transmission Tariff or legislative policy, or implementation of these new FERC planning rules, could adversely affect our transmission planning, our earnings and our prospects for growth.

Changes in regulatory or legislative policy or unfavorable outcomes in regulatory proceedings could jeopardize our full and/or timely recovery of costs incurred by our regulated distribution and generation businesses.

Under state law, our Regulated companies are entitled to charge rates that are sufficient to allow them an opportunity to recover their reasonable operating and capital costs, to attract needed capital and maintain their financial integrity, while also protecting relevant public interests. Each of these companies prepares and submits periodic rate filings with their respective state regulatory commissions for review and approval. There is no assurance that these state commissions will approve the recovery of all such costs incurred by our Regulated companies, such as for construction, operation and maintenance, as well as a return on investment on their respective regulated assets. The amount of costs incurred by the Regulated companies, coupled with increases in fuel and energy prices, could lead to consumer or regulatory resistance to the timely recovery of such costs, thereby adversely affecting our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Additionally, state legislators may enact laws that significantly impact our Regulated companies' revenues, including by mandating electric or gas rate relief and/or by requiring surcharges to customer bills to support state programs not related to the utilities or energy policy. Such increases could pressure overall rates to our customers and our routine requests to regulators for rate relief.

In addition, CL&P, NSTAR Electric and WMECO procure energy for a substantial portion of their customers' needs via requests for proposal on an annual, semi-annual or quarterly basis. CL&P, NSTAR Electric and WMECO receive approval to recover the costs of these contracts from the PURA and DPU, respectively. While both regulatory agencies have consistently approved the solicitation processes, results and recovery of costs, management cannot predict the outcome of future solicitation efforts or the regulatory proceedings related thereto.

PSNH meets most of its energy requirements through its own generation resources and fixed-price forward purchase contracts. PSNH's remaining energy needs are met primarily through spot market purchases. Unplanned forced outages of its generating plants could increase the level of energy purchases needed by PSNH and therefore increase the market risk associated with procuring the energy to meet its requirements. PSNH recovers these costs through its ES rate, subject to a prudence review by the NHPUC. We cannot predict the outcome of future regulatory proceedings related to recovery of these costs.

Our goodwill is valued and recorded at an amount that, if impaired and written down, could adversely affect our future operating results and total capitalization.

We have a significant amount of goodwill on our consolidated balance sheet. The carrying value of goodwill represents the fair value of an acquired business in excess of identifiable assets and liabilities as of the acquisition date. As of December 31, 2014, goodwill totaled $3.5 billion, of which $3.2 billion was attributable to the acquisition of NSTAR in April 2012. Total goodwill represented approximately 35 percent of our $10 billion of shareholders' equity and approximately 12 percent of our total assets of $29.8 billion. We test our goodwill balances for impairment on an annual basis or whenever events occur or circumstances change that would indicate a potential for impairment. A determination that goodwill is deemed to be impaired would result in a non-cash charge that could materially adversely affect our results of operations and total capitalization. The annual goodwill impairment test in 2014 resulted in a conclusion that goodwill is not impaired.

Severe storms could cause significant damage to any of our facilities requiring extensive expenditures, the recovery for which is subject to approval by regulators.

Severe weather, such as ice and snow storms, hurricanes and other natural disasters, may cause outages and property damage, which may require us to incur additional costs that may not be recoverable from customers. The cost of repairing damage to our operating subsidiaries' facilities and the potential disruption of their operations due to storms, natural disasters or other catastrophic events could be substantial, particularly as customers

demand better and quicker response times to outages. If, upon review, any of our state regulatory authorities finds that our actions were imprudent, some of those restoration costs may not be recoverable from customers. The inability to recover a significant amount of such costs could have an adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

NU and its utility subsidiaries are exposed to significant reputational risks, which make them vulnerable to increased regulatory oversight or other sanctions.

Because utility companies, including our electric and natural gas utility subsidiaries, have large consumer customer bases, they are subject to adverse publicity focused on the reliability of their distribution services and the speed with which they are able to respond to electric outages, natural gas leaks and similar interruptions caused by storm damage or other unanticipated events. Adverse publicity of this nature could harm the reputations of NU and its subsidiaries, and may make state legislatures, utility commissions and other regulatory authorities less likely to view NU and its subsidiaries in a favorable light, and may cause NU and its subsidiaries to be subject to less favorable legislative and regulatory outcomes or increased regulatory oversight. Unfavorable regulatory outcomes can include more stringent laws and regulations governing our operations, such as reliability and customer service quality standards or vegetation management requirements, as well as fines, penalties or other sanctions or requirements. The imposition of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flow and financial condition of NU and each of its utility subsidiaries.

Limits on our access to and increases in the cost of capital may adversely impact our ability to execute our business plan.

We use short-term debt and the long-term capital markets as a significant source of liquidity and funding for capital requirements not obtained from our operating cash flow. If access to these sources of liquidity becomes constrained, our ability to implement our business strategy could be adversely affected. In addition, higher interest rates would increase our cost of borrowing, which could adversely impact our results of operations. A downgrade of our credit ratings or events beyond our control, such as a disruption in global capital and credit markets, could increase our cost of borrowing and cost of capital or restrict our ability to access the capital markets and negatively affect our ability to maintain and to expand our businesses.

Our counterparties may not meet their obligations to us or may elect to exercise their termination rights, which could adversely affect our earnings.

We are exposed to the risk that counterparties to various arrangements who owe us money, have contracted to supply us with energy, coal, or other commodities or services, or who work with us as strategic partners, including on significant capital projects, will not be able to perform their obligations, will terminate such arrangements or, with respect to our credit facilities, fail to honor their commitments. Should any of these counterparties fail to perform their obligations or terminate such arrangements, we might be forced to replace the underlying commitment at higher market prices and/or have to delay the completion of, or cancel a capital project. Should any lenders under our credit facilities fail to perform, the level of borrowing capacity under those arrangements could decrease. In any such events, our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows could be adversely affected.

Judicial or regulatory proceedings or changes in regulatory or legislative policy could jeopardize full recovery of costs incurred by PSNH in constructing the Clean Air Project.

Pursuant to New Hampshire law, PSNH placed the Clean Air Project in service at its Merrimack Station. PSNH's recovery of costs in constructing the project is subject to prudence review by the NHPUC. A material prudence disallowance could adversely affect PSNH's financial position, results of operations or cash flows. While we believe we have prudently incurred all expenditures to date, we cannot predict the outcome of any prudence reviews. Our projected earnings and growth could be adversely affected were the NHPUC to deny recovery of some or all of PSNH's investment in the project.

The loss of key personnel or the inability to hire and retain qualified employees could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

Our operations depend on the continued efforts of our employees. Retaining key employees and maintaining the ability to attract new employees are important to both our operational and financial performance. We cannot guarantee that any member of our management or any key employee at the NU parent or subsidiary level will continue to serve in any capacity for any particular period of time. In addition, a significant portion of our workforce, including many workers with specialized skills maintaining and servicing the electrical infrastructure, will be eligible to retire over the next five to ten years. Such highly skilled individuals cannot be quickly replaced due to the technically complex work they perform. We have developed strategic workforce plans to identify key functions and proactively implement plans to assure a ready and qualified workforce, but cannot predict the impact of these plans on our ability to hire and retain key employees.

Market performance or changes in assumptions require us to make significant contributions to our pension and other postretirement benefit plans.

We provide a defined benefit pension plan and other postretirement benefits for a substantial number of employees, former employees and retirees. Our future pension obligations, costs and liabilities are highly dependent on a variety of factors beyond our control. These factors include estimated investment returns, interest rates, discount rates, health care cost trends, benefit changes, salary increases and the demographics of plan participants. If our assumptions prove to be inaccurate, our future costs could increase significantly. In 2014, NU made contributions to the Pension Plans totaling $171.6 million. We expect to make contributions in 2015 totaling $155 million. In addition, various factors, including underperformance of plan investments and changes in law or regulation, could increase the amount of contributions required to fund our pension plan in the future. Additional large funding requirements, when combined with the financing requirements of our construction program, could impact the timing and amount of future equity and debt financings and negatively affect our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Costs of compliance with environmental regulations, including climate change legislation, may increase and have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Our subsidiaries' operations are subject to extensive federal, state and local environmental statutes, rules and regulations that govern, among other things, air emissions, water discharges and the management of hazardous and solid waste. Compliance with these requirements requires us to incur significant costs relating to environmental monitoring, installation of pollution control equipment, emission fees, maintenance and upgrading of facilities, remediation and permitting. The costs of compliance with existing legal requirements or legal requirements not yet adopted may increase in the future. An increase in such costs, unless promptly recovered, could have an adverse impact on our business and our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

In addition, global climate change issues have received an increased focus from federal and state governments, including EPA's proposed draft carbon pollution emission guidelines for existing utility generating units, which could potentially lead to additional rules and regulations that impact how we operate our business, both in terms of the power plants we own and operate as well as general utility operations. Although we would expect that any costs of these rules and regulations would be recovered from customers, their impact on energy use by customers and the ultimate impact on our business would be dependent upon the specific rules and regulations adopted and cannot be determined at this time. The impact of these additional costs to customers could lead to a further reduction in energy consumption resulting in a decline in electricity and gas sales in our service territories, which would have an adverse impact on our business and financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Any failure by us to comply with environmental laws and regulations, even if due to factors beyond our control, or reinterpretations of existing requirements, could also increase costs. Existing environmental laws and regulations may be revised or new laws and regulations seeking to protect the environment may be adopted or become applicable to us. Revised or additional laws could result in significant additional expense and operating restrictions on our facilities or increased compliance costs, which may not be fully recoverable in distribution company rates. The cost impact of any such laws, rules or regulations would be dependent upon the specific requirements adopted and cannot be determined at this time. For further information, see Item 1, Business - Other Regulatory and Environmental Matters, included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

As a holding company with no revenue-generating operations, NU parent's liquidity is dependent on dividends from its subsidiaries, primarily the Regulated companies, its commercial paper program, and its ability to access the long-term debt and equity capital markets.

NU parent is a holding company and as such, has no revenue-generating operations of its own. Its ability to meet its debt service obligations and to pay dividends on its common shares is largely dependent on the ability of its subsidiaries to pay dividends to or repay borrowings from NU parent, and/or NU parent's ability to access its commercial paper program or the long-term debt and equity capital markets. Prior to funding NU parent, the Regulated companies have financial obligations that must be satisfied, including among others, their operating expenses, debt service, preferred dividends (in the case of CL&P and NSTAR Electric), and obligations to trade creditors. Additionally, the Regulated companies could retain their free cash flow to fund their capital expenditures in lieu of receiving equity contributions from NU parent. Should the Regulated companies not be able to pay dividends or repay funds due to NU parent, or if NU parent cannot access its commercial paper programs or the long-term debt and equity capital markets, NU parent's ability to pay interest, dividends and its own debt obligations would be restricted.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

Unresolved Staff Comments

We do not have any unresolved SEC staff comments.

Item 2. Properties
Transmission and Distribution System
As of December 31, 2014, NU and our electric operating subsidiaries owned the following:
ElectricElectric
NUDistributionTransmission
Number of substations owned51363
Transformer capacity (in kVa)40,853,00017,117,000
Overhead lines (distribution in pole miles and transmission in circuit miles)48,4963,880
Capacity range of overhead transmission lines (in kV)N/A69 to 345
Underground lines (distribution in conduit bank miles and transmission in cable miles)16,770408
Capacity range of underground transmission lines (in kV)N/A69 to 345
CL&PNSTAR ElectricPSNHWMECO
DistributionTransmissionDistributionTransmissionDistributionTransmissionDistributionTransmission
Number of substations owned182191332115516437
Transformer capacity (in kVa)19,082,0003,117,00011,381,00010,065,0005,218,0003,868,0005,172,00067,000
Overhead lines (distribution in pole miles and transmission in circuit miles)18,3761,63014,33874211,9871,0273,795481
Capacity range of overhead transmission lines (in kV)N/A69 to 345N/A115 to 345N/A115 to 345N/A69 to 345
Underground lines (distribution in conduit bank miles and transmission in cable miles)1,18613713,4962601,795129310
Capacity range of underground transmission lines (in kV)N/A69 to 345N/A115 to 345N/A115N/A115
NSTAR
NUCL&PElectricPSNHWMECO
Underground and overhead line transformers in service622,104287,641123,997167,70342,763
Aggregate capacity (in kVa)35,196,92615,118,64110,828,2187,122,9282,127,139

Electric Generating Plants

As of December 31, 2014, PSNH owned the following electric generating plants:

Type of PlantNumber of UnitsYear InstalledClaimed Capability* (kilowatts)
Steam Plants51952-74935,343
Hydro201901-8358,115
Internal Combustion51968-70101,869
Biomass1200642,594
Total PSNH Generating Plant311,137,921

Claimed capability represents winter ratings as of December 31, 2014. The combined nameplate capacity of the generating plants is approximately 1,200 MW.

As of December 31, 2014, WMECO owned the following electric generating plants:

Type of PlantNumber of SitesYear InstalledClaimed Capability** (kilowatts)
Solar Fixed Tilt, Photovoltaic32010-148,000

** Claimed capability represents the direct current nameplate capacity of the plant.

CL&P and NSTAR Electric do not own any electric generating plants.

Natural Gas Distribution System

As of December 31, 2014, Yankee Gas owned 28 active gate stations, 201 district regulator stations, and approximately 3,300 miles of natural gas main pipeline. Yankee Gas also owns a liquefaction and vaporization plant and above ground storage tank with a storage capacity equivalent of 1.2 Bcf of natural gas in Waterbury, Connecticut.

As of December 31, 2014, NSTAR Gas owned 20 active gate stations, 162 district regulator stations, and approximately 3,230 miles of natural gas main pipeline. Hopkinton, another subsidiary of NU, owns a satellite vaporization plant and above ground storage tanks in Acushnet, MA. In

addition, Hopkinton owns a liquefaction and vaporization plant with above ground storage tanks in Hopkinton, MA. Combined, the two plants' tanks have an aggregate storage capacity equivalent to 3.5 Bcf of natural gas that is provided to NSTAR Gas under contract.

Franchises

CL&P Subject to the power of alteration, amendment or repeal by the General Assembly of Connecticut and subject to certain approvals, permits and consents of public authority and others prescribed by statute, CL&P has, subject to certain exceptions not deemed material, valid franchises free from burdensome restrictions to provide electric transmission and distribution services in the respective areas in which it is now supplying such service.

In addition to the right to provide electric transmission and distribution services as set forth above, the franchises of CL&P include, among others, limited rights and powers, as set forth under Connecticut law and the special acts of the General Assembly constituting its charter, to manufacture, generate, purchase and/or sell electricity at retail, including to provide Standard Service, Supplier of Last Resort service and backup service, to sell electricity at wholesale and to erect and maintain certain facilities on public highways and grounds, all subject to such consents and approvals of public authority and others as may be required by law. The franchises of CL&P include the power of eminent domain. Connecticut law prohibits an electric distribution company from owning or operating generation assets. However, under "An Act Concerning Energy Independence," enacted in 2005, CL&P is permitted to own up to 200 MW of peaking facilities if the PURA determines that such facilities will be more cost effective than other options for mitigating FMCC and Locational Installed Capacity (LICAP) costs. In addition, under "An Act Concerning Electricity and Energy Efficiency," enacted in 2007, an electric distribution company, such as CL&P, is permitted to purchase an existing electric generating plant located in Connecticut that is offered for sale, subject to prior approval from the PURA and a determination by the PURA that such purchase is in the public interest. Finally, Connecticut law also allows CL&P to submit a proposal to the DEEP to build, own or operate one or more generation facilities up to 10 MWs using Class I renewable energy.

NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas Through their charters, which are unlimited in time, NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas have the right to engage in the business of delivering and selling electricity and natural gas within their respective service territories, and have powers incidental thereto and are entitled to all the rights and privileges of and subject to the duties imposed upon electric and natural gas companies under Massachusetts laws. The locations in public ways for electric transmission and distribution lines and natural gas distribution pipelines are obtained from municipal and other state authorities who, in granting these locations, act as agents for the state. In some cases the actions of these authorities are subject to appeal to the DPU. The rights to these locations are not limited in time and are subject to the action of these authorities and the legislature. Under Massachusetts law, with the exception of municipal-owned utilities, no other entity may provide electric or natural gas delivery service to retail customers within NSTAR's service territory without the written consent of NSTAR Electric and/or NSTAR Gas. This consent must be filed with the DPU and the municipality so affected.

The Massachusetts restructuring legislation defines service territories as those territories actually served on July 1, 1997 and following municipal boundaries to the extent possible. The restructuring legislation further provides that until terminated by law or otherwise, distribution companies shall have the exclusive obligation to serve all retail customers within their service territories and no other person shall provide distribution service within such service territories without the written consent of such distribution companies. Pursuant to the Massachusetts restructuring legislation, the DPU (then, the Department of Telecommunications and Energy) was required to define service territories for each distribution company, including NSTAR Electric. The DPU subsequently determined that there were advantages to the exclusivity of service territories and issued a report to the Massachusetts Legislature recommending against, in this regard, any changes to the restructuring legislation.

PSNH The NHPUC, pursuant to statutory requirements, has issued orders granting PSNH exclusive franchises to distribute electricity in the respective areas in which it is now supplying such service.

In addition to the right to distribute electricity as set forth above, the franchises of PSNH include, among others, rights and powers to manufacture, generate, purchase, and transmit electricity, to sell electricity at wholesale to other utility companies and municipalities and to erect and maintain certain facilities on certain public highways and grounds, all subject to such consents and approvals of public authority and others as may be required by law. PSNH's status as a public utility gives it the ability to petition the NHPUC for the right to exercise eminent domain for its transmission and distribution services in appropriate circumstances.

PSNH is also subject to certain regulatory oversight by the Maine Public Utilities Commission and the Vermont Public Service Board.

WMECO WMECO is authorized by its charter to conduct its electric business in the territories served by it, and has locations in the public highways for transmission and distribution lines. Such locations are granted pursuant to the laws of Massachusetts by the Department of Public Works of Massachusetts or local municipal authorities and are of unlimited duration, but the rights thereby granted are not vested. Such locations are for specific lines only and for extensions of lines in public highways. Further similar locations must be obtained from the Department of Public Works of Massachusetts or the local municipal authorities. In addition, WMECO has been granted easements for its lines in the Massachusetts Turnpike by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and pursuant to state laws, has the power of eminent domain.

The Massachusetts restructuring legislation applicable to NSTAR Electric (described above) is also applicable to WMECO.

Yankee Gas Yankee Gas holds valid franchises to sell natural gas in the areas in which Yankee Gas supplies natural gas service, which it acquired either directly or from its predecessors in interest. Generally, Yankee Gas holds franchises to serve customers in areas designated by those franchises as well as in most other areas throughout Connecticut so long as those areas are not occupied and served by another natural gas utility under a valid franchise of its own or are not subject to an exclusive franchise of another natural gas utility. Yankee Gas' franchises are perpetual but remain subject to the power of alteration, amendment or repeal by the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, the power of revocation by the PURA and certain approvals, permits and consents of public authorities and others prescribed by statute. Generally, Yankee Gas' franchises include, among other rights and powers, the right and power to manufacture, generate, purchase, transmit and distribute natural gas and to erect and maintain certain

facilities on public highways and grounds, and the right of eminent domain, all subject to such consents and approvals of public authorities and others as may be required by law.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

Legal Proceedings

Yankee Companies v. U.S. Department of Energy

DOE Phase I Damages - In 1998, the Yankee Companies (CYAPC, YAEC and MYAPC) filed separate complaints against the DOE in the Court of Federal Claims seeking monetary damages resulting from the DOE's failure to begin accepting spent nuclear fuel for disposal by January 31, 1998 pursuant to the terms of the 1983 spent fuel and high level waste disposal contracts between the Yankee Companies and the DOE (DOE Phase I Damages). Phase I covered damages for the period 1998 through 2002. Following multiple appeals and cross-appeals in December 2012, the judgment awarding CYAPC $39.6 million, YAEC $38.3 million and MYAPC $81.7 million became final.

In January 2013, the proceeds from the DOE Phase I Damages Claim were received by the Yankee Companies and transferred to each Yankee Company's respective decommissioning trust.

In June 2013, FERC approved CYAPC, YAEC and MYAPC to reduce rates in their wholesale power contracts through the application of the DOE proceeds for the benefit of customers. Changes to the terms of the wholesale power contracts became effective on July 1, 2013. In accordance with the FERC order, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO began receiving the benefit of the DOE proceeds, and the benefits have been passed on to customers.

On September 17, 2014, in accordance with the MYAPC refund plan, MYAPC returned a portion of the DOE Phase I Damages proceeds to the member companies, including CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH, and WMECO, in the amount of $3.2 million, $1.1 million, $1.4 million and $0.8 million, respectively.

DOE Phase II Damages - In December 2007, the Yankee Companies each filed subsequent lawsuits against the DOE seeking recovery of actual damages incurred related to the alleged failure of the DOE to provide for a permanent facility to store spent nuclear fuel generated in years 2001 through 2008 for CYAPC and YAEC and from 2002 through 2008 for MYAPC (DOE Phase II Damages). In November 2013, the court issued a final judgment awarding CYAPC $126.3 million, YAEC $73.3 million, and MYAPC $35.8 million. On January 14, 2014, the Yankee Companies received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice stating that the DOE will not appeal the court's final judgment.

In March and April 2014, CYAPC, YAEC and MYAPC received payment of $126.3 million, $73.3 million and $35.8 million, respectively, of the DOE Phase II Damages proceeds and made the required informational filing with FERC in accordance with the process and methodology outlined in the 2013 FERC order. The Yankee Companies returned the DOE Phase II Damages proceeds to the member companies, including CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH, and WMECO, for the benefit of their respective customers, on June 1, 2014. Refunds to CL&P's, NSTAR Electric's, PSNH's and WMECO's customers for these DOE proceeds began in the third quarter of 2014.

DOE Phase III Damages - In August 2013, the Yankee Companies each filed subsequent lawsuits against the DOE seeking recovery of actual damages incurred in the years 2009 through 2012. The presiding judge issued a Pre-Trial Scheduling Order on September 3, 2014 that set the case for trial from June 30 to July 2, 2015. The Order also established January 5, 2015 for the close of fact discovery and March 30, 2015 as the close of expert discovery. Expert discovery is ongoing.

Conservation Law Foundation v. PSNH

On July 21, 2011, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) filed a citizens suit under the provisions of the federal Clean Air Act against PSNH alleging permitting violations at the company's Merrimack generating station. The suit alleges that PSNH failed to have proper permits for replacement of the Unit 2 turbine at Merrimack, installation of activated carbon injection equipment for the unit, and violated a permit condition concerning operation of the electrostatic precipitators at the station. On September 27, 2012, the federal court dismissed portions of CLF's suit pertaining to the installation of activated carbon injection and the electrostatic precipitators. CLF filed an amended complaint on May 28, 2013, related to routine maintenance of the boiler performed in 2008 and 2009. The suit seeks injunctive relief, civil penalties, and costs. CLF has pursued similar claims before the NHPUC, the N.H. Air Resources Council, and the N.H. Site Evaluation Committee, all of which have been denied. PSNH believes this suit is without merit and intends to defend it vigorously. The deadline for summary judgment is November 2015. Trial is scheduled for the spring of 2016.

Other Legal Proceedings

For further discussion of legal proceedings, see Item 1, Business: "- Electric Distribution Segment," "- Electric Transmission Segment," and "- Natural Gas Distribution Segment" for information about various state regulatory and rate proceedings, civil lawsuits related thereto, and information about proceedings relating to power, transmission and pricing issues; "- Nuclear Fuel Storage" for information related to high-level nuclear waste; and "- Other Regulatory and Environmental Matters" for information about proceedings involving surface water and air quality requirements, toxic substances and hazardous waste, electric and magnetic fields, licensing of hydroelectric projects, and other matters. In addition, see Item 1A, Risk Factors, for general information about several significant risks.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE REGISTRANT

The following table sets forth the executive officers of NU as of February 18, 2015. All of the Company's officers serve terms of one year and until their successors are elected and qualified:

NameAgeTitle
Jay S. Buth45Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer.
Gregory B. Butler57Senior Vice President and General Counsel.
Christine M. Carmody*52Senior Vice President-Human Resources of NUSCO.
James J. Judge59Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Thomas J. May67Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer.
David R. McHale54Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer.
Joseph R. Nolan, Jr.*51Senior Vice President-Corporate Relations of NUSCO.
Leon J. Olivier66Executive Vice President-Enterprise Energy Strategy and Business Development.
Werner J. Schweiger55Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
  • Deemed an executive officer of NU pursuant to Rule 3b-7 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Jay S. Buth. Mr. Buth has served as Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO since April 10, 2012. Previously, Mr. Buth served as Vice President-Accounting and Controller of NU, CL&P, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO from June 2009 until April 10, 2012. From June 2006 through January 2009, Mr. Buth served as the Vice President and Controller for New Jersey Resources Corporation, an energy services holding company that provides natural gas and wholesale energy services, including transportation, distribution and asset management.

Gregory B. Butler. Mr. Butler has served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of NU since May 1, 2014, of NSTAR Electric, and NSTAR Gas since April 10, 2012, and of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO since March 9, 2006. Mr. Butler has served as a Director of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas since April 10, 2012, of NUSCO since November 27, 2012, and of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas since April 22, 2009. Mr. Butler previously served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of NU from April 10, 2012 until May 1, 2014, and as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of NU from December 1, 2005 to April 10, 2012. He has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since December 1, 2002.

Christine M. Carmody. Ms. Carmody has served as Senior Vice President-Human Resources of NUSCO since April 10, 2012 and as a Director of NUSCO since November 27, 2012. Ms. Carmody previously served as Senior Vice President-Human Resources of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014, and of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from August 1, 2008 to September 29, 2014, and as a Director of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from April 10, 2012 to September 29, 2014 and of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014. Previously, Ms. Carmody served as Vice President-Organizational Effectiveness of NSTAR, NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from June 2006 to August 2008. Ms. Carmody has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since April 10, 2012. She has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since August 1, 2008.

James J. Judge. Mr. Judge has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO and as a Director of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO since April 10, 2012 and of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas since September 27, 1999. Previously, Mr. Judge served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NSTAR, NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from 1999 until April 2012. Mr. Judge has served as Treasurer and as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since April 10, 2012. He has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since December 12, 1995.

Thomas J. May. Mr. May has served as Chairman of the Board of NU since October 10, 2013, and as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a Trustee of NU; as Chairman and a Director of CL&P, NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas; and as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director of NUSCO since April 10, 2012. Mr. May has served as a Director of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas since September 27, 1999. Mr. May previously served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer and a Trustee of NSTAR, and as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas until April 10, 2012. He served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and a Trustee since NSTAR was formed in 1999, and was elected President in 2002. Mr. May has served as Chairman of the Board of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since October 15, 2013, and as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since April 10, 2012. He previously served as President of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. from October 15, 2013 to September 29, 2014. He has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since August 18, 1987.

David R. McHale. Mr. McHale has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of NU and NUSCO since April 10, 2012 and as a Director of NUSCO since January 1, 2005. Mr. McHale previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of CL&P, NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from April 10, 2012 to September 29, 2014 and as a Director of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014, of PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from January 1, 2005 to September 29, 2014, and of CL&P from January 15, 2007 to September 29, 2014. Previously, Mr. McHale served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NU, CL&P, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO from January 2009 to April 2012, and as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NU, CL&P, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO from January 2005 to December 2008. He has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since January 1, 2005. Mr. McHale has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since April 10, 2012.

Joseph R. Nolan, Jr. Mr. Nolan has served as Senior Vice President-Corporate Relations of NUSCO since April 10, 2012 and as a Director of NUSCO since November 27, 2012. Mr. Nolan previously served as Senior Vice President-Corporate Relations of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from April 10, 2012 to September 29, 2014, and of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014, as a Director of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from April 10, 2012 to September 29, 2014 and of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014. Previously, Mr. Nolan served as Senior Vice President-Customer & Corporate Relations of NSTAR, NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from 2006 until April 10, 2012. Mr. Nolan has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since April 10, 2012, and has served as Executive Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since October 15, 2013. He has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since October 1, 2000.

Leon J. Olivier. Mr. Olivier has served as Executive Vice President-Enterprise Energy Strategy and Business Development of NU since September 2, 2014 and as a Director of NUSCO since January 17, 2005. Mr. Olivier previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of NU and NUSCO from May 13, 2008 until September 2, 2014, and as Chief Executive Officer of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from April 10, 2012 until August 11, 2014, of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from January 15, 2007 to September 29, 2014, and of CL&P from September 10, 2001 to September 29, 2014, and as a Director of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014, of PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from January 17, 2005 to September 29, 2014, and of CL&P from September 10, 2001 to September 29, 2014. Previously, Mr. Olivier served as Executive Vice President-Operations of NU from February 13, 2007 to May 12, 2008. He has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since April 1, 2006. Mr. Olivier has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since April 10, 2012.

Werner J. Schweiger. Mr. Schweiger has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of NU since September 2, 2014 and of NUSCO since August 11, 2014, and as Chief Executive Officer of CL&P, NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas since August 11, 2014, and as a Director of NUSCO, NSTAR Gas and Yankee Gas since September 29, 2014 and of CL&P, PSNH, NSTAR Electric and WMECO since May 28, 2013. He previously served as President-Electric Distribution of NUSCO from January 16, 2013 until August 11, 2014 and as President of NSTAR Electric from April 10, 2012 until January 16, 2013 and as a Director of NSTAR Electric from November 27, 2012 to January 16, 2013. From February 27, 2002 until April 10, 2012, Mr. Schweiger was Senior Vice President-Operations of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas. Mr. Schweiger has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since September 29, 2014. He has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since April 25, 2002.

PART II

Item 5. Market for the Registrants' Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market for the Registrants' Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

(a)

Market Information and (c) Dividends

NU. Our common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Effective February 19, 2015, the ticker symbol is "ES." The high and low sales prices of our common shares and the dividends declared, for the past two years, by quarter, are shown below.

YearQuarterHighLowDividends Declared
2014First$45.69$41.28$0.393
Second47.6044.280.393
Third47.3741.920.393
Fourth56.6644.370.393
2013First$43.49$38.60$0.368
Second45.6639.350.368
Third45.1340.010.368
Fourth43.7540.600.368

Information with respect to dividend restrictions for us, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH, and WMECO is contained in Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, under the caption "Liquidity" and Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, in the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, within this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

There is no established public trading market for the common stock of CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO. All of the common stock of CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO is held solely by NU.

Common stock dividends approved and paid to NU during the year were as follows:

For the Years Ended December 31,
(Millions of Dollars)20142013
CL&P$171.2$152.0
NSTAR Electric253.056.0
PSNH66.068.0
WMECO60.040.0

(b)

Holders

As of January 31, 2015, there were 44,860 registered common shareholders of our company on record. As of the same date, there were a total of 317,203,765 common shares issued.

(d)

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

For information regarding securities authorized for issuance under equity compensation plans, see Item 12, Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters, included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

(e)

Performance Graph

The performance graph below illustrates a five-year comparison of cumulative total returns based on an initial investment of $100 in 2009 in Northeast Utilities common stock, as compared with the S&P 500 Stock Index and the EEI Index for the period 2010 through 2014, assuming all dividends are reinvested.

[f2014form10kedgar003.gif]

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

The following table discloses purchases of our common shares made by us or on our behalf for the periods shown below. The common shares purchased consist of open market purchases made by the Company or an independent agent. These share transactions related to the Company's Long-Term Incentive Plans.

PeriodTotal Number of Shares PurchasedAverage Price Paid per ShareTotal Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or ProgramsApproximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans and Programs (at month end)
October 1 - October 31, 2014-$---
November 1 - November 30, 2014----
December 1 - December 31, 201462,97650.91--
Total62,976$50.91--

Item 6. Selected Consolidated Financial Data

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | NU Selected Consolidated Financial Data (Unaudited) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (Thousands of Dollars, except percentages and common share information) | | | | | 2014 | | | 2013 | | | 2012 (a) | | | 2011 | | | 2010 | | | | Balance Sheet Data: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Property, Plant and Equipment, Net | | | | $ | 18,647,041 | | $ | 17,576,186 | | $ | 16,605,010 | | $ | 10,403,065 | | $ | 9,567,726 | | | | Total Assets | | | | | 29,777,975 | | | 27,795,537 | | | 28,302,824 | | | 15,647,066 | | | 14,472,601 | | | | Total Capitalization (b) (c) | | | | | 18,983,983 | | | 18,077,274 | | | 17,356,112 | | | 9,078,321 | | | 8,627,985 | | | | Obligations Under Capital Leases (b) | | | | | 9,434 | | | 10,744 | | | 11,071 | | | 12,358 | | | 12,236 | | | Income Statement Data: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Operating Revenues | | | | $ | 7,741,856 | | $ | 7,301,204 | | $ | 6,273,787 | | $ | 4,465,657 | | $ | 4,898,167 | | | | Net Income | | | | | 827,065 | | | 793,689 | | | 533,077 | | | 400,513 | | | 394,107 | | | | Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests | | | | | 7,519 | | | 7,682 | | | 7,132 | | | 5,820 | | | 6,158 | | | | Net Income Attributable to Controlling Interest | | | | $ | 819,546 | | $ | 786,007 | | $ | 525,945 | | $ | 394,693 | | $ | 387,949 | | | Common Share Data: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Net Income Attributable to Controlling Interest: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Basic Earnings Per Common Share | | | $ | 2.59 | | $ | 2.49 | | $ | 1.90 | | $ | 2.22 | | $ | 2.20 | | | | | Diluted Earnings Per Common Share | | | $ | 2.58 | | $ | 2.49 | | $ | 1.89 | | $ | 2.22 | | $ | 2.19 | | | | Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Basic | | | | 316,136,748 | | | 315,311,387 | | | 277,209,819 | | | 177,410,167 | | | 176,636,086 | | | | | Diluted | | | | 317,417,414 | | | 316,211,160 | | | 277,993,631 | | | 177,804,568 | | | 176,885,387 | | | | Dividends Declared Per Common Share | | | | $ | 1.57 | | $ | 1.47 | | $ | 1.32 | | $ | 1.10 | | $ | 1.03 | | | | Market Price - Closing (high) (d) | | | | $ | 56.15 | | $ | 45.33 | | $ | 40.57 | | $ | 36.31 | | $ | 32.05 | | | | Market Price - Closing (low) (d) | | | | $ | 41.52 | | $ | 38.67 | | $ | 33.53 | | $ | 30.46 | | $ | 24.78 | | | | Market Price - Closing (end of year) (d) | | | | $ | 53.52 | | $ | 42.39 | | $ | 39.08 | | $ | 36.07 | | $ | 31.88 | | | | Book Value Per Common Share (end of year) | | | | $ | 31.47 | | $ | 30.49 | | $ | 29.41 | | $ | 22.65 | | $ | 21.60 | | | | Tangible Book Value Per Common Share (end of year) (e) | | | | $ | 20.37 | | $ | 19.32 | | $ | 18.21 | | $ | 21.03 | | $ | 19.97 | | | | Rate of Return Earned on Average Common Equity (%) (f) | | | | | 8.4 | | | 8.3 | | | 7.9 | | | 10.1 | | | 10.7 | | | | Market-to-Book Ratio (end of year) (g) | | | | | 1.7 | | | 1.4 | | | 1.3 | | | 1.6 | | | 1.5 | | | Capitalization: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total Equity | | | | | 53 | % | | 53 | % | | 53 | % | | 44 | % | | 44 | % | | | Preferred Stock, not subject to mandatory redemption | | | | | 1 | | | 1 | | | 1 | | | 1 | | | 1 | | | | Long-Term Debt (b) (c) | | | | | 46 | | | 46 | | | 46 | | | 55 | | | 55 | | | | | | | | | 100 | % | | 100 | % | | 100 | % | | 100 | % | | 100 | % | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (a) | | The 2012 results include the operations of NSTAR beginning April 10, 2012. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (b) | | Includes portions due within one year. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (c) | | Excludes RRBs. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (d) | | Market price information reflects closing prices as reflected by the New York Stock Exchange. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (e) | | Common Shareholders' Equity adjusted for goodwill and intangibles divided by total common shares outstanding. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (f) | | Net Income Attributable to Controlling Interest divided by average Common Shareholders' Equity. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (g) | | The closing market price divided by the book value per share. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | CL&P Selected Financial Data (Unaudited) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (Thousands of Dollars) | | | | | 2014 | | | 2013 | | | 2012 | | | 2011 | | | 2010 | | | | Operating Revenues | | | | | $ | 2,692,582 | | $ | 2,442,341 | | $ | 2,407,449 | | $ | 2,548,387 | | $ | 2,999,102 | | | Net Income | | | | | | 287,754 | | | 279,412 | | | 209,725 | | | 250,164 | | | 244,143 | | | Cash Dividends on Common Stock | | | | | | 171,200 | | | 151,999 | | | 100,486 | | | 243,218 | | | 217,691 | | | Property, Plant and Equipment, Net | | | | | | 6,809,664 | | | 6,451,259 | | | 6,152,959 | | | 5,827,384 | | | 5,586,504 | | | Total Assets | | | | | | 9,360,108 | | | 8,980,502 | | | 9,142,088 | | | 8,791,396 | | | 8,255,192 | | | Long-Term Debt (a) | | | | | | 2,841,951 | | | 2,741,208 | | | 2,862,790 | | | 2,583,753 | | | 2,583,102 | | | Preferred Stock Not Subject to Mandatory Redemption | | | | | | 116,200 | | | 116,200 | | | 116,200 | | | 116,200 | | | 116,200 | | | Obligations Under Capital Leases (a) | | | | | | 8,439 | | | 9,309 | | | 9,960 | | | 10,715 | | | 10,613 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (a) | | Includes portions due within one year. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | See the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a description of any accounting changes materially affecting the comparability of the information reflected in the tables above. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

NU Selected Consolidated Sales Statistics
201420132012 (a)20112010
Revenues: (Thousands)
Residential$3,288,313$3,073,181$2,731,951$2,091,270$2,336,078
Commercial2,471,4402,387,5351,604,6611,236,3741,346,228
Industrial348,698339,917753,974252,878268,598
Wholesale447,899486,515357,223350,413506,475
Other and Eliminations97,09056,547130,13747,485(29,878)
Total Electric6,653,4406,343,6955,577,9463,978,4204,427,501
Natural Gas1,002,880855,601572,857430,799434,277
Total - Regulated Companies7,656,3207,199,2966,150,8034,409,2194,861,778
Other and Eliminations85,536101,908122,98456,43836,389
Total$7,741,856$7,301,204$6,273,787$4,465,657$4,898,167
Regulated Companies - Sales: (GWh)
Residential21,31721,89619,71914,76614,913
Commercial27,44927,78724,53714,62814,836
Industrial5,6765,6485,4624,4184,481
Wholesale3,0188552,1541,0203,423
Total57,46056,18651,87234,83237,653
Regulated Companies - Customers: (Average)
Residential2,734,0472,718,7272,711,4071,710,3421,704,197
Commercial373,511371,897370,389199,240198,558
Industrial8,0168,1098,2797,0837,150
Total Electric3,115,5743,098,7333,090,0751,916,6651,909,905
Natural Gas499,186493,563483,770207,753205,885
Total3,614,7603,592,2963,573,8452,124,4182,115,790
(a) The 2012 results include the operations of NSTAR beginning April 10, 2012.
CL&P Selected Sales Statistics
20142013201220112010
Revenues: (Thousands)
Residential$1,474,181$1,294,160$1,263,845$1,345,290$1,597,754
Commercial879,343780,585732,620758,145853,956
Industrial149,220129,557126,165126,783144,463
Wholesale146,787219,367214,807278,751441,660
Other43,05118,67270,01239,418(38,731)
Total$2,692,582$2,442,341$2,407,449$2,548,387$2,999,102
Sales: (GWh)
Residential10,02610,3149,97810,09210,196
Commercial9,6439,7709,7059,80910,002
Industrial2,3772,3202,4262,4142,467
Wholesale7368511,1551,5923,040
Total22,78223,25523,26423,90725,705
Customers: (Average)
Residential1,111,4671,105,4171,103,3971,100,7401,096,576
Commercial109,093108,735108,589108,235107,532
Industrial3,2133,2473,3013,3313,359
Total1,223,7731,217,3991,215,2871,212,3061,207,467

Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

NORTHEAST UTILITIES AND SUBSIDIARIES

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related combined notes included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to "NU," the "Company," "we," "us," and "our" refer to Northeast Utilities and subsidiaries. Our merger was effective April 10, 2012, and all subsequent results of operations and cash flows include NSTAR and its subsidiaries throughout this Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. On February 2, 2015, NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO commenced doing business as Eversource Energy.

All per share amounts are reported on a diluted basis. The consolidated financial statements of NU, NSTAR Electric and PSNH and the financial statements of CL&P and WMECO are herein collectively referred to as the "financial statements." Refer to the Glossary of Terms included in this combined Annual Report on Form 10-K for abbreviations and acronyms used throughout this Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The only common equity securities that are publicly traded are common shares of NU. The earnings and EPS of each business discussed below do not represent a direct legal interest in the assets and liabilities of such business but rather represent a direct interest in our assets and liabilities as a whole. EPS by business is a financial measure not recognized under GAAP that is calculated by dividing the Net Income Attributable to Controlling Interest of each business by the weighted average diluted NU common shares outstanding for the year. The discussion below also includes non-GAAP financial measures referencing our 2014, 2013 and 2012 earnings and EPS excluding certain integration and merger costs related to NU's merger with NSTAR. We use these non-GAAP financial measures to evaluate and to provide details of earnings by business and to more fully compare and explain our 2014, 2013 and 2012 results without including the impact of these items. Due to the nature and significance of these items on Net Income Attributable to Controlling Interest, we believe that the non-GAAP presentation is more representative of our financial performance and provides additional and useful information to readers of this report in analyzing historical and future performance by business. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as an alternative to reported Net Income Attributable to Controlling Interest or EPS determined in accordance with GAAP as an indicator of operating performance.

Reconciliations of the above non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures of consolidated diluted EPS and Net Income Attributable to Controlling Interest are included under "Financial Condition and Business Analysis – Overview – Consolidated" and "Financial Condition and Business Analysis – Overview – Regulated Companies" in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, herein.

Financial Condition and Business Analysis

Executive Summary

The following items in this executive summary are explained in more detail in this Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations:

Results:

·

We earned $819.5 million, or $2.58 per share, in 2014, compared with $786 million, or $2.49 per share, in 2013. Excluding integration costs, we earned $841.6 million, or $2.65 per share, in 2014 and $799.8 million, or $2.53 per share, in 2013.

·

Our electric distribution segment, which includes generation, earned $462.4 million, or $1.45 per share, in 2014, compared with $427 million, or $1.35 per share, in 2013. Our transmission segment earned $295.4 million, or $0.93 per share, in 2014, compared with $287 million, or $0.91 per share, in 2013. Our natural gas distribution segment earned $72.3 million, or $0.23 per share, in 2014, compared with $60.9 million, or $0.19 per share, in 2013.

·

NU parent and other companies had a net loss of $10.6 million, or $0.03 per share, in 2014, compared with earnings of $11.1 million, or $0.04 per share, in 2013. The 2014 and 2013 results reflect $22.1 million, or $0.07 per share, and $13.8 million, or $0.04 per share, respectively, of integration costs.

Legislative, Regulatory, Policy and Other Items:

·

Pursuant to the FERC orders issued and other developments in the pending base ROE complaint proceedings further described in the "FERC Regulatory Issues – FERC Base ROE Complaints" section of this Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, the Company recorded reserves at its electric subsidiaries to recognize the potential financial impact of these rulings and developments in both 2014 and 2013. The net aggregate after-tax charge to earnings totaled $22.4 million and $14.3 million in 2014 and 2013, respectively.

·

On September 16, 2014, NU and Spectra Energy Corp announced Access Northeast, a natural gas pipeline expansion project. Access Northeast will enhance the Algonquin and Maritimes pipeline systems using existing routes. NU and Spectra Energy Corp will have equal ownership interest in the project. On February 18, 2015, NU, Spectra Energy Corp and National Grid announced the addition of National Grid as a co-developer in the project for a total ownership interest of 20 percent, with NU and Spectra Energy Corp each owning 40 percent. The total project cost, subject to FERC approval, is expected to be approximately $3 billion and has an anticipated in-service date of November 2018.

·

In September 2014, pursuant to legislation enacted in 2014, the NHPUC opened a docket that required them to commence and expedite a proceeding to determine whether all or some of PSNH's generation assets should be divested. An NHPUC progress report must be completed by March 31, 2015. In October 2014, the NHPUC concluded its hearings in the Clean Air Project prudence review to determine the prudent costs of PSNH's compliance with the law requiring scrubber installation. On December 26, 2014, PSNH requested that the NHPUC stay this proceeding in order to allow discussions to take place with other significant parties to determine whether a collaborative resolution of all issues was achievable. On January 15, 2015, the NHPUC issued an order granting the motion to stay in this proceeding, and settlement discussions have ensued.

·

On December 17, 2014, PURA issued a final decision in CL&P's rate case, effective December 1, 2014, for a total distribution rate increase of $134 million. The distribution rate increase included a revenue decoupling reconciliation mechanism, system resiliency costs, and, pursuant to a March 12, 2014 PURA order approving such costs, the recovery of 2011 and 2012 storm restoration costs over a six-year period. In addition, CL&P began recovering the 2013 storm costs and residual 2012 Storm Sandy costs over a seven-year period beginning December 1, 2014. Including the $65.4 million of DOE Phase II Damages proceeds CL&P was allowed to credit to its deferred storm costs, CL&P has now been approved to recover all of its previously deferred storm costs in distribution rates.

·

On December 31, 2014, NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas and the Massachusetts Attorney General filed a comprehensive settlement agreement with the DPU. The comprehensive settlement agreement included resolution of the outstanding NSTAR Electric CPSL program filings, the NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas PAM and energy efficiency-related customer billing adjustments reported in 2012, and the NSTAR Electric energy efficiency program filings regarding LBR. If approved by the DPU, NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas will be required to refund a total of $44.7 million to their respective

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Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

Market Risk Information

Commodity Price Risk Management: Our Regulated companies enter into energy contracts to serve our customers and the economic impacts of those contracts are passed on to our customers. Accordingly, the Regulated companies have no exposure to loss of future earnings or fair values due to these market risk-sensitive instruments. NU's Energy Supply Risk Committee, comprised of senior officers, reviews and approves all large scale energy related transactions entered into by its Regulated companies.

Other Risk Management Activities

We have an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program for identifying the principal risks of the Company. Our ERM program involves the application of a well-defined, enterprise-wide methodology designed to allow our Risk Committee, comprised of our senior officers and directors of the Company, to identify, categorize, prioritize, and mitigate the principal risks to the Company. The ERM program is integrated with other assurance functions throughout the Company including Compliance, Auditing, and Insurance to ensure appropriate coverage of risks that could impact the Company. In addition to known risks, ERM identifies emerging risks to the Company, through participation in industry groups, discussions with management and in consultation with outside advisers. Our management then analyzes risks to determine materiality, likelihood, impact and develops mitigation strategies. Management broadly considers our business model, the utility industry, the global economy and the current environment to identify risks. The findings of this process are periodically discussed with the Finance Committee of our Board of Trustees, as well as with other Board Committees or the full Board of Trustees, as appropriate, including reporting on how these issues are being measured and managed. The Finance Committee is responsible for oversight of the Company's ERM program and enterprise-wide risks as well as specific risks associated with insurance, credit, financing, investments, pensions and overall system security including cyber security. However, there can be no assurances that the Enterprise Risk Management process will identify or manage every risk or event that could impact our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Interest Rate Risk Management: We manage our interest rate risk exposure in accordance with our written policies and procedures by maintaining a mix of fixed and variable rate long-term debt. As of December 31, 2014, approximately 91 percent of our long-term debt, including fees and interest due for spent nuclear fuel disposal costs, was at a fixed interest rate. The remaining long-term debt is at variable interest rates and is subject to interest rate risk that could result in earnings volatility. Assuming a one percentage point increase in our variable interest rates, annual interest expense would have increased by a pre-tax amount of $7.7 million.

Credit Risk Management: Credit risk relates to the risk of loss that we would incur as a result of non-performance by counterparties pursuant to the terms of our contractual obligations. We serve a wide variety of customers and transact with suppliers that include IPPs, industrial companies, natural gas and electric utilities, oil and gas producers, financial institutions, and other energy marketers. Margin accounts exist within this diverse group, and we realize interest receipts and payments related to balances outstanding in these margin accounts. This wide customer and supplier mix generates a need for a variety of contractual structures, products and terms that, in turn, require us to manage the portfolio of market risk inherent in those transactions in a manner consistent with the parameters established by our risk management process.

Our Regulated companies are subject to credit risk from certain long-term or high-volume supply contracts with energy marketing companies. Our Regulated companies manage the credit risk with these counterparties in accordance with established credit risk practices and monitor contracting risks, including credit risk. As of December 31, 2014, our Regulated companies held collateral from counterparties related to our standard service contracts. As of December 31, 2014, NU had cash posted with ISO-NE related to energy purchase transactions.

For further information on cash collateral deposited and posted with counterparties, see Note 1G, "Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Restricted Cash and Other Deposits," and Note 4, "Derivative Instruments," to the financial statements.

If the respective unsecured debt ratings of NU or its subsidiaries were reduced to below investment grade by either Moody's or S&P, certain of NU's contracts would require additional collateral in the form of cash to be provided to counterparties and independent system operators. NU would have been and remains able to provide that collateral.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

NU
Company Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Consolidated Financial Statements
CL&P
Company Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Financial Statements
NSTAR Electric
Company Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Consolidated Financial Statements
PSNH
Company Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Consolidated Financial Statements
WMECO
Company Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Financial Statements

Company Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting

Northeast Utilities

Management is responsible for the preparation, integrity, and fair presentation of the accompanying consolidated financial statements of Northeast Utilities and subsidiaries (NU or the Company) and of other sections of this annual report. NU's internal controls over financial reporting were audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal controls over financial reporting. The Company's internal control framework and processes have been designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. There are inherent limitations of internal controls over financial reporting that could allow material misstatements due to error or fraud to occur and not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by employees during the normal course of business. Additionally, internal controls over financial reporting may become inadequate in the future due to changes in the business environment.

Under the supervision and with the participation of the principal executive officer and principal financial officer, NU conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Based on this evaluation under the framework in COSO, management concluded that internal controls over financial reporting were effective as of December 31, 2014.

February 25, 2015

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees and Shareholders of Northeast Utilities:

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Northeast Utilities and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of December 31, 2014 and 2013, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, common shareholders' equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2014. Our audits also included the financial statement schedules listed in the Index at Item 15 of Part IV. We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2014, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. The Company's management is responsible for these financial statements and financial statement schedules, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Company Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial statement schedules and an opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audits of the financial statements included examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

A company's internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the company's principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by the company's board of directors, management, and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company's internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of the inherent limitations of internal control over financial reporting, including the possibility of collusion or improper management override of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Also, projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of the internal control over financial reporting to future periods are subject to the risk that the controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Northeast Utilities and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2014 and 2013, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2014, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also, in our opinion, such financial statement schedules, when considered in relation to the basic consolidated financial statements taken as a whole, present fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein. Also,

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Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

No events that would be described in response to this item have occurred with respect to NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH or WMECO.

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures

Controls and Procedures

Management, on behalf of NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO, is responsible for the preparation, integrity, and fair presentation of the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements and other sections of this combined Annual Report on Form 10-K. NU's internal controls over financial reporting were audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Management, on behalf of NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO, is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal controls over financial reporting. The internal control framework and processes have been designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. There are inherent limitations of internal controls over financial reporting that could allow material misstatements due to error or fraud to occur and not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by employees during the normal course of business. Additionally, internal controls over financial reporting may become inadequate in the future due to changes in the business environment. Under the supervision and with the participation of the principal executive officer and principal financial officer, an evaluation of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting was conducted based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Based on this evaluation under the framework in COSO, management concluded that internal controls over financial reporting at NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO were effective as of December 31, 2014.

Management, on behalf of NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO, evaluated the design and operation of the disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2014 to determine whether they are effective in ensuring that the disclosure of required information is made timely and in accordance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the rules and regulations of the SEC. This evaluation was made under management's supervision and with management's participation, including the principal executive officer and principal financial officer as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K. There are inherent limitations of disclosure controls and procedures, including the possibility of human error and the circumventing or overriding of the controls and procedures. Accordingly, even effective disclosure controls and procedures can only provide reasonable assurance of achieving their control objectives. The principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded, based on their review, that the disclosure controls and procedures of NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO are effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in reports filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (i) is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and regulations and (ii) is accumulated and communicated to management, including the principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.

During the third quarter of 2014, we implemented a new general ledger system resulting in a material change in internal controls over financial reporting. This new system, which went live effective August 1, 2014, standardized the financial systems for the merged companies and allows for a common set of accounting processes, practices and data structures across all operating companies. Pre-implementation testing and post-implementation reviews were conducted by management to ensure that internal controls surrounding the system implementation process, the applications, and the closing process were properly designed to prevent material financial statement errors. Such procedures included the review of required documents, user acceptance testing, change management procedures, access controls, data migration strategies and reconciliations, application interface testing and other standard application controls.

There have been no other changes in internal controls over financial reporting for NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO during the quarter ended December 31, 2014 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, internal controls over financial reporting.

Item 9B. Other Information

Other Information

No information is required to be disclosed under this item as of December 31, 2014, as this information has been previously disclosed in applicable reports on Form 8-K during the fourth quarter of 2014.

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

The information in Item 10 is provided as of February 18, 2015, except where otherwise indicated.

Certain information required by this Item 10 is omitted for NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO pursuant to Instruction I(2)(c) to Form 10-K, Omission of Information by Certain Wholly Owned Subsidiaries.

NU

In addition to the information provided below concerning the executive officers of NU, incorporated herein by reference is the information to be contained in the sections captioned "Election of Trustees," "Governance of Northeast Utilities" and the related subsections, "Selection of Trustees," and "Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance" of NU's definitive proxy statement for solicitation of proxies, expected to be filed with the SEC on or about March 13, 2015.

NU and CL&P

Each member of CL&P's Board of Directors is an employee of CL&P, NU or an affiliate. Directors are elected annually to serve for one year until their successors are elected and qualified.

Set forth below is certain information as of February 18, 2015 concerning CL&P's Directors and NU's and CL&P's executive officers:

NameAgeTitle
Thomas J. May67Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of NU and NUSCO; Chairman and a Director of the Regulated companies, including CL&P
James J. Judge59Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NU and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and a Director of NUSCO and the Regulated companies, including CL&P
David R. McHale 154Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of NU and NUSCO
Leon J. Olivier66Executive Vice President-Enterprise Energy Strategy and Business Development of NU and NUSCO
Werner J. Schweiger55Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of NU and NUSCO; Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Regulated companies, including CL&P
Gregory B. Butler57Senior Vice President and General Counsel of NU and NUSCO; Senior Vice President and General Counsel and a Director of the Regulated companies, including CL&P
Christine M. Carmody 252Senior Vice President-Human Resources of NUSCO
Joseph R. Nolan, Jr. 251Senior Vice President-Corporate Relations of NUSCO
William P. Herdegen III 360President and Chief Operating Officer of CL&P
Jay S. Buth45Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of NU, NUSCO and the Regulated companies, including CL&P

Deemed an executive officer of CL&P pursuant to Rule 3b-7 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Deemed an executive officer of NU and CL&P pursuant to Rule 3b-7 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Mr. Herdegen is the President and Chief Operating Officer of CL&P and is therefore an executive officer solely of CL&P.

Thomas J. May. Mr. May has served as Chairman of the Board of NU since October 10, 2013, and as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a Trustee of NU; as Chairman and a Director of CL&P, NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas; and as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director of NUSCO since April 10, 2012. Mr. May has served as a Director of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas since September 27, 1999. Mr. May previously served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer and a Trustee of NSTAR, and as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas until April 10, 2012. He served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and a Trustee since NSTAR was formed in 1999, and was elected President in 2002. Mr. May has served as Chairman of the Board of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since October 15, 2013, and as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since April 10, 2012. He previously served as President of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. from October 15, 2013 to September 29, 2014. He has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since August 18, 1987.

James J. Judge. Mr. Judge has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO and as a Director of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO since April 10, 2012 and of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas since September 27, 1999. Previously, Mr. Judge served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NSTAR, NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from 1999 until April 2012. Mr. Judge has served as Treasurer and as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since April 10, 2012. He has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since December 12, 1995.

David R. McHale. Mr. McHale has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of NU and NUSCO since April 10, 2012 and as a Director of NUSCO since January 1, 2005. Mr. McHale previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of CL&P, NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from April 10, 2012 to September 29, 2014 and as a Director of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014, of PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from January 1, 2005 to September 29, 2014, and of CL&P from January 15, 2007 to September 29, 2014. Previously, Mr. McHale served as Executive Vice President and

Chief Financial Officer of NU, CL&P, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO from January 2009 to April 2012, and as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NU, CL&P, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO from January 2005 to December 2008. He has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since January 1, 2005. Mr. McHale has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since April 10, 2012.

Leon J. Olivier. Mr. Olivier has served as Executive Vice President-Enterprise Energy Strategy and Business Development of NU since September 2, 2014 and as a Director of NUSCO since January 17, 2005. Mr. Olivier previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of NU and NUSCO from May 13, 2008 until September 2, 2014, and as Chief Executive Officer of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from April 10, 2012 until August 11, 2014, of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from January 15, 2007 to September 29, 2014, and of CL&P from September 10, 2001 to September 29, 2014, and as a Director of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014, of PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from January 17, 2005 to September 29, 2014, and of CL&P from September 10, 2001 to September 29, 2014. Previously, Mr. Olivier served as Executive Vice President-Operations of NU from February 13, 2007 to May 12, 2008. He has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since April 1, 2006. Mr. Olivier has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since April 10, 2012.

Werner J. Schweiger. Mr. Schweiger has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of NU since September 2, 2014 and of NUSCO since August 11, 2014, and as Chief Executive Officer of CL&P, NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas since August 11, 2014, and as a Director of NUSCO, NSTAR Gas and Yankee Gas since September 29, 2014 and of CL&P, PSNH, NSTAR Electric and WMECO since May 28, 2013. He previously served as President-Electric Distribution of NUSCO from January 16, 2013 until August 11, 2014 and as President of NSTAR Electric from April 10, 2012 until January 16, 2013 and as a Director of NSTAR Electric from November 27, 2012 to January 16, 2013. From February 27, 2002 until April 10, 2012, Mr. Schweiger was Senior Vice President-Operations of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas. Mr. Schweiger has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since September 29, 2014. He has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since April 25, 2002.

Gregory B. Butler. Mr. Butler has served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of NU since May 1, 2014, of NSTAR Electric, and NSTAR Gas since April 10, 2012, and of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO since March 9, 2006. Mr. Butler has served as a Director of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas since April 10, 2012, of NUSCO since November 27, 2012, and of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas since April 22, 2009. Mr. Butler previously served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of NU from April 10, 2012 until May 1, 2014, and as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of NU from December 1, 2005 to April 10, 2012. He has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since December 1, 2002.

Christine M. Carmody. Ms. Carmody has served as Senior Vice President-Human Resources of NUSCO since April 10, 2012 and as a Director of NUSCO since November 27, 2012. Ms. Carmody previously served as Senior Vice President-Human Resources of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014, and of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from August 1, 2008 to September 29, 2014, and as a Director of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from April 10, 2012 to September 29, 2014 and of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014. Previously, Ms. Carmody served as Vice President-Organizational Effectiveness of NSTAR, NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from June 2006 to August 2008. Ms. Carmody has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since April 10, 2012. She has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since August 1, 2008.

Joseph R. Nolan, Jr. Mr. Nolan has served as Senior Vice President-Corporate Relations of NUSCO since April 10, 2012 and as a Director of NUSCO since November 27, 2012. Mr. Nolan previously served as Senior Vice President-Corporate Relations of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from April 10, 2012 to September 29, 2014, and of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014, as a Director of CL&P, PSNH, WMECO and Yankee Gas from April 10, 2012 to September 29, 2014 and of NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from November 27, 2012 to September 29, 2014. Previously, Mr. Nolan served as Senior Vice President-Customer & Corporate Relations of NSTAR, NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas from 2006 until April 10, 2012. Mr. Nolan has served as a Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since April 10, 2012, and has served as Executive Director of Eversource Energy Foundation, Inc. since October 15, 2013. He has served as a Trustee of the NSTAR Foundation since October 1, 2000.

William P. Herdegen III. Mr. Herdegen has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of CL&P since September 11, 2012 and as a Director of CL&P from September 11, 2012 to September 29, 2014. Previously, Mr. Herdegen served as Vice President of Transmission and Distribution Engineering and Operations for Kansas City Power & Light Company from 2008 until his retirement on September 7, 2012; as Vice President, Distribution and Customer Operations from 2005 to 2008; and as Vice President, Distribution Operations from 2001 to 2005. Mr. Herdegen began his utility career at Commonwealth Edison, where he held various positions, including Vice President, Engineering, Construction and Maintenance, corporate project manager, operations manager, business unit supply manager, district manager, and field engineer.

Jay S. Buth. Mr. Buth has served as Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO since April 10, 2012. Previously, Mr. Buth served as Vice President-Accounting and Controller of NU, CL&P, PSNH, WMECO, Yankee Gas and NUSCO from June 2009 until April 10, 2012. From June 2006 through January 2009, Mr. Buth served as the Vice President and Controller for New Jersey Resources Corporation, an energy services holding company that provides natural gas and wholesale energy services, including transportation, distribution and asset management.

There are no family relationships between any director or executive officer and any other trustee, director or executive officer of NU or CL&P and none of the above executive officers or directors serves as an executive officer or director pursuant to any agreement or understanding with any other person. Our executive officers hold the offices set forth opposite their names until the next annual meeting of the Board of Trustees, in the case of NU, and the Board of Directors, in the case of CL&P, and until their successors have been elected and qualified.

CL&P obtains audit services from the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by the Audit Committee of NU's Board of Trustees. CL&P does not have its own audit committee or, accordingly, an audit committee financial expert. CL&P relies on NU's audit committee and the audit committee financial expert.

CODE OF ETHICS AND STANDARDS OF BUSINESS CONDUCT

Each of NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO has adopted a Code of Ethics for Senior Financial Officers (Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Controller) and the Code of Business Conduct, which are applicable to all Trustees, directors, officers, employees, contractors and agents of NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO. The Code of Ethics and the Code of Business Conduct have both been posted on the NU web site and are available at www.eversource.com/investors/corporate_gov/default.asp on the Internet. Any amendments to or waivers from the Code of Ethics and Code of Business Conduct for executive officers, directors or Trustees will be posted on the website. Any such amendment or waiver would require the prior consent of the Board of Trustees or an applicable committee thereof.

Printed copies of the Code of Ethics and the Code of Business Conduct are also available to any shareholder without charge upon written request mailed to:

Richard J. Morrison

Secretary

Eversource Energy

P.O. Box 270

Hartford, CT 06141

Item 11. Executive Compensation

Executive Compensation

NU

The information required by this Item 11 for NU is incorporated herein by reference to certain information contained in NU's definitive proxy statement for solicitation of proxies, which is expected to be filed with the SEC on or about March 13, 2015, under the sections captioned "Compensation Discussion and Analysis," plus related subsections, and "Compensation Committee Report," plus related subsections following such Report.

NSTAR ELECTRIC, PSNH and WMECO

Certain information required by this Item 11 has been omitted for NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO pursuant to Instruction I(2)(c) to Form 10-K, Omission of Information by Certain Wholly Owned Subsidiaries.

CL&P

The information in this Item 11 relates solely to CL&P.

COMPENSATION DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

CL&P is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NU. Its board of directors consists entirely of executive officers of NU. CL&P does not have a compensation committee, and the Compensation Committee of NU's Board of Trustees determines compensation for the executive officers of CL&P, including their salaries, annual incentive awards and long-term incentive awards. All of CL&P's "Named Executive Officers," as defined below, also serve as officers of NU and one or more other subsidiaries of NU. Compensation set by the Compensation Committee of NU (the "Committee") and set forth herein is for services rendered to NU and its subsidiaries by such officers in all capacities.

The purpose of this Compensation Discussion and Analysis is to provide information about NU's compensation objectives, plans, policies and actions for the Named Executive Officers. The discussion describes the specific components of the compensation program, how NU measures performance, and how compensation awards and decisions were made by the Compensation Committee for the Named Executive Officers, as presented in the tables and narratives that follow. While this discussion focuses primarily on 2014 information, it also addresses decisions that were made in other periods to the extent that these decisions are relevant to the full understanding of NU's compensation program and the specific awards that were made in 2014 and early 2015.

Business Highlights

Since the merger with NSTAR in 2012, NU has continued to meet its commitment of achieving above-average earnings and dividend growth.

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Note 1:

2012-2014 recurring earnings per share have grown 7.9%, consistent with NU's guidance and well above the industry average. Recurring earnings per share presented above for all years exclude merger-related costs. A reconciliation between reported earnings per share and the recurring earnings per share presented above appears under the caption "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Overview" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Note 2:

The NU Board of Trustees increased the annual dividend rate by 6.8 percent for 2014 to $1.57 per share, exceeding the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Index dividend growth rate of 3.7%. 2012-2014 dividends have grown 7.0%, in line with NU's earnings per share growth and well ahead of the industry average.

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NU's Total Shareholder Return for the one-year and five-year periods has outperformed both the EEI Index and the S&P 500. NU's market capitalization at the end of 2014 grew to $17 billion, increasing shareholder value by over $8 billion in the 33-month period following the 2012 merger with NSTAR. NU commenced trading under the symbol "ES" on February 19, 2015.

Note 1:

An investment of $1,000 in NU common shares at the beginning of the one-year period commencing January 1, 2014 was worth $1,305 on December 31, 2014.

Note 2:

An investment of $1,000 in NU common shares at the beginning of the five-year period commencing January 1, 2010 was worth $2,458 on December 31, 2014.

NU's operating performance continues to improve each year. This is the result of the ongoing implementation of best practices, focused spending on reliability improvements to reduce the number and length of outages, and performing work safely each and every day.

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Note 1:

Reliability as measured by months between interruptions has improved significantly; on average, NU's customers experienced an outage every 15.4 months during 2014 vs. 11.9 months in 2011.

Note 2:

The average time to restore power has decreased significantly, from 120.5 minutes in 2011 to 82.0 minutes in 2014.

Note 3:

Safety performance measured by the days away or restricted time per 100 workers has improved significantly, to 1.44 in 2014 from 2.58 in 2011.

Summary of 2014 Performance

In 2014, NU achieved excellent financial and operational performance results. NU met or exceeded each of the challenging financial and operational goals established by the Committee at the beginning of 2014 and had the best system reliability results in NU's history. The following is a summary of some of NU's most important accomplishments in 2014:

Financial Accomplishments

NU's 2014 recurring earnings were $2.65 per share, excluding merger related costs, a 4.7 percent increase over 2013 results.

NU continued to achieve operating and maintenance expense reductions through successful integration activities, exceeding the goal of a greater than 3 percent reduction in operating expenses from 2013. Operating costs were 6.8 percent, or $101 million, lower than 2013.

NU increased its dividend to $1.57 per share, a 6.8 percent increase over 2013, continuing to significantly outperform the industry average.

NU delivered 30.5 percent total shareholder return in 2014, the sixth consecutive year of double digit total shareholder return, creating $8 billion in NU shareholder value in the 33-month period following NU's 2012 merger with NSTAR.

Total Shareholder Return
20143-Year5-Year10-Year
ES30.5%64.3%145.8%297.7%
EEI Index28.9%48.7%91.0%156.0%
S&P 50013.7%74.6%105.1%109.4%

Operational Accomplishments

NU's overall electric system performance in 2014 was the best on record and represents top quartile industry performance.

NU's Massachusetts subsidiaries, NSTAR Electric Company, NSTAR Gas Company and Western Massachusetts Electric Company, paid no penalties for Service Quality Index performance in 2014 under regulations in Massachusetts, which is the only state NU serves that has specific performance targets.

NU continued the focus on streamlining and fully integrating business processes across the company, including standardizing system design, equipment and operating and maintenance practices and implementing a new financial accounting and budgeting system in a well controlled and timely manner.

NU exceeded established goals in calls answered on-time, safety performance, and response to gas service calls.

Achievement of the 2014 performance goals and additional accomplishments and the Committee's assessment of company and executive performa

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Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

NU

In addition to the information below under "Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans," incorporated herein by reference is the information contained in the sections "Common Share Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners" and "Common Share Ownership of Trustees and Management" of NU’s definitive proxy statement for solicitation of proxies, expected to be filed with the SEC on or about March 13, 2015.

NSTAR ELECTRIC, PSNH and WMECO

Certain information required by this Item 12 has been omitted for NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO pursuant to Instruction I(2)(c) to Form 10-K, Omission of Information by Certain Wholly-Owned Subsidiaries.

CL&P

COMMON SHARE OWNERSHIP OF DIRECTORS AND MANAGEMENT

NU owns 100 percent of the outstanding common stock of CL&P. The table below shows the number of NU common shares beneficially owned as of February 19, 2015, by each of CL&P’s directors and each Named Executive Officer of CL&P, as well as the number of NU common shares beneficially owned by all of CL&P’s directors and executive officers as a group. The table also includes information about options, restricted share units and deferred shares credited to the accounts of CL&P’s directors and executive officers under certain compensation and benefit plans. No equity securities of CL&P are owned by any of the Trustees, directors or executive officers of NU or CL&P. The address for the shareholders listed below is c/o Northeast Utilities, Prudential Center, 800 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02199 for Messrs. May, Judge and Schweiger and c/o Northeast Utilities, 56 Prospect Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06103-2818 for Messrs. Butler, McHale and Olivier.

Name of Beneficial OwnerAmount and Nature of Beneficial Ownership (1)(2)(3)Percent of Class
Thomas J. May, Chairman of the Regulated Companies1,644,902*
Werner J. Schweiger, Chief Executive Officer, Director of the Regulated Companies458,254*
James J. Judge, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Director of the Regulated Companies308,597*
Gregory B. Butler, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Director of the Regulated Companies159,446(4)*
David R. McHale, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of NU and NUSCO206,867(5)*
Leon J. Olivier, Executive Vice President-Enterprise Energy Strategy and Business Development of NU and NUSCO205,483*
All directors and executive officers as a group (10 persons)3,275,512(6)1.0%

Less than 1 percent of NU common shares outstanding.

(1)

The persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares beneficially owned by each of them, except as note below.

(2)

Includes NU common shares issuable upon exercise of outstanding stock options exercisable within the 60-day period after February 19, 2015, as follows: Mr. May: 174,496 shares; and Mr. Schweiger: 171,872 shares.

Also includes restricted share units, deferred restricted share units and/or deferred shares, including dividend equivalents, as to which none of the individuals has voting or investment power, and phantom shares, representing employer matching contributions distributable only in cash, held by executive officers who participate in the Northeast Utilities Deferred Compensation Plan for Executives as follows; Mr. Butler: 84,837 shares; Mr. McHale: 115,827 shares; and Mr. Olivier: 102,118 shares. Also includes restricted share units and/or unvested and vested deferred shares, as to which none of the individuals has voting or investment power, held by executive officers who participate in the NSTAR 2007 Long Term Incentive Plan, as follows: Mr. Judge: 189,006 shares; Mr. May: 1,029,390 shares; and Mr. Schweiger: 206,140 shares.

Also includes unvested performance shares reported at target payouts, plus accumulated dividend equivalents, as to which none of the individuals has voting or investment power, as follows: Mr. Butler: 25,525 shares; Mr. Judge: 36,632 shares; Mr. May: 163,512 shares; Mr. McHale: 36,632 shares; Mr. Olivier: 38,501 shares; and Mr. Schweiger: 28,642 shares. Actual payouts of the performance shares, if any, at the conclusion of relevant performance periods will depend on the extent to which performance goals are satisfied.

(3)

Includes NU common shares held as units in the 401(k) Plan invested in the NU Common Shares Fund over which the holder has sole voting and investment power (Mr. Butler: 4,862 shares; Mr. Judge: 22,598 shares; Mr. May: 66,197 shares; Mr. McHale: 7,422 shares; Mr. Olivier: 3,441 shares; and Mr. Schweiger: 8,719 shares).

(4)

Includes 44,222 NU common shares owned jointly by Mr. Butler and his spouse with whom he shares voting and investment power.

(5)

Includes 128 NU common shares held by Mr. McHale in the 401(k) Plan TRAESOP/PAYSOP account over which Mr. McHale has sole voting and investment power.

(6)

Includes 346,368 NU common shares issuable upon exercise of outstanding stock options exercisable within the 60-day period after February 19, 2015, and 2,295,072 unissued NU common shares. See note 2.

SECURITIES AUTHORIZED FOR ISSUANCE UNDER EQUITY COMPENSATION PLANS

The following table sets forth the number of NU common shares issuable under NU equity compensation plans, as well as their weighted exercise price, as of December 31, 2014, in accordance with the rules of the SEC:

Plan CategoryNumber of securities to be issued upon exercise of outstanding options, warrants and rights (a)Weighted-average exercise price of outstanding options, warrants and rights (b)Number of securities remaining available for future issuance under equity compensation plans (excluding securities reflected in column (a)) (c)
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders2,108,007$26.693,888,995
Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders (d)———
Total2,108,007$26.693,888,995

(a)

Includes 351,616 common shares to be issued upon exercise of options, 1,380,747 common shares for distribution of restricted share units, and 375,644 performance shares issuable at target, all pursuant to the terms of our Incentive Plans.

(b)

The weighted-average exercise price in Column (b) does not take into account restricted share units or performance shares, which have no exercise price.

(c)

Includes 776,975 common shares issuable under our Employee Share Purchase Plan II.

(d)

All of our current compensation plans under which equity securities of NU are authorized for issuance have been approved by shareholders of NU or the former shareholders of NSTAR.

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

NU

Incorporated herein by reference is the information contained in the sections captioned "Trustee Independence" and "Certain Relationships and Related Transactions" of NU's definitive proxy statement for solicitation of proxies, expected to be filed with the SEC on or about March 13, 2015.

NSTAR ELECTRIC, PSNH and WMECO

Certain information required by this Item 13 has been omitted for NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO pursuant to Instruction I(2)(c) to Form 10-K, Omission of Information by Certain Wholly-Owned Subsidiaries**.**

CL&P

NU's Code of Ethics for Senior Financial Officers applies to the Senior Financial Officers (Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Controller) of NU, CL&P and certain other NU subsidiaries. Under the Code, one's position as a Senior Financial Officer in the company may not be used to improperly benefit such officer or his or her family or friends. Under the Code, specific activities that may be considered conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to, directly or indirectly acquiring or retaining a significant financial interest in an organization that is a customer, vendor or competitor, or that seeks to do business with the company; serving, without proper safeguards, as an officer or director of, or working or rendering services for an organization that is a customer, vendor or competitor, or that seeks to do business with the company. Waivers of the provisions of the Code of Ethics for Trustees, executive officers or directors must be approved by NU's Board of Trustees. Any such waivers will be disclosed pursuant to legal requirements.

NU's Code of Business Conduct, which applies to all Trustees, directors, officers and employees of NU and its subsidiaries, including CL&P, contains a Conflict of Interest Policy that requires all such individuals to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. Such individuals are expected to discuss their particular situations with management to ensure appropriate steps are in place to avoid a conflict of interest. All disclosures must be reviewed and approved by management to ensure a particular situation does not adversely impact the individual's primary job and role.

NU's Related Party Transactions Policy is administered by the Corporate Governance Committee of NU's Board of Trustees. The Policy generally defines a "Related Party Transaction" as any transaction or series of transactions in which (i) NU or a subsidiary is a participant, (ii) the aggregate amount involved exceeds $120,000 and (iii) any "Related Party" has a direct or indirect material interest. A "Related Party" is defined as any Trustee or nominee for Trustee, any executive officer, any shareholder owning more than 5 percent of NU's total outstanding shares, and any immediate family member of any such person. Management submits to the Corporate Governance Committee for consideration any Related Party Transaction into which NU or a subsidiary proposes to enter. The Corporate Governance Committee recommends to the NU Board of Trustees for approval only those transactions that are in NU's best interests. If management causes the company to enter into a Related Party Transaction prior to approval by the Corporate Governance Committee, the transaction will be subject to ratification by the NU Board of Trustees. If the NU Board of Trustees determines not to ratify the transaction, then management will make all reasonable efforts to cancel or annul such transaction.

The directors of CL&P are employees of CL&P and/or other subsidiaries of NU, and thus are not considered independent.

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services

Principal Accountant Fees and Services

NU

Incorporated herein by reference is the information contained in the section "Relationship with Independent Auditors" of NU's definitive proxy statement for solicitation of proxies, expected to be filed with the SEC on or about March 13, 2015.

CL&P, NSTAR ELECTRIC, PSNH and WMECO

Pre-Approval of Services Provided by Principal Auditors

None of CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH or WMECO is subject to the audit committee requirements of the SEC, the national securities exchanges or the national securities associations. CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO obtain audit services from the independent auditor engaged by the Audit Committee of NU's Board of Trustees. NU's Audit Committee has established policies and procedures regarding the pre-approval of services provided by the principal auditors. Those policies and procedures delegate pre-approval of services to the NU Audit Committee Chair provided that such offices are held by Trustees who are "independent" within the meaning of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and that all such pre-approvals are presented to the NU Audit Committee at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Committee.

The following relates to fees and services for the entire NU system, including NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO.

Fees Billed by Principal Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The aggregate fees billed to NU and its subsidiaries by Deloitte & Touche LLP, the member firms of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and their respective affiliates (collectively, the Deloitte Entities), for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 totaled $3,986,500 and $3,616,225, respectively. In addition, affiliates of Deloitte & Touche LLP as noted below provide other accounting services to NU. Fees were comprised of the following:

1.

Audit Fees

The aggregate fees billed to NU and its subsidiaries by Deloitte & Touche LLP for audit services rendered for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 totaled $3,775,000 and $3,493,925, respectively. The audit fees were incurred for audits of Northeast Utilities' annual consolidated financial statements and those of its subsidiaries, reviews of financial statements included in Northeast Utilities' Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and those of its subsidiaries, comfort letters, consents and other costs related to registration statements and financings. The fees also included audits of internal controls over financial reporting as of December 31, 2014 and 2013.

2.

Audit Related Fees

The aggregate fees billed to NU and its subsidiaries by the Deloitte Entities for audit related services rendered for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 totaled $175,000 and $100,000, respectively. The audit related fees were incurred for procedures performed in the ordinary course of business in support of certain regulatory filings.

3.

Tax Fees

The aggregate fees billed to NU and its subsidiaries by the Deloitte Entities for tax services for the year ended December 31, 2013 totaled $20,800. Tax fees for 2013 related primarily to reviews of tax returns. There were no tax fees for the year ended December 31, 2014.

4.

All Other Fees

The aggregate fees billed to NU and its subsidiaries by the Deloitte Entities for services other than the services described above for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 totaled $36,500 and $1,500, respectively. The 2014 fees include $35,000 for an IT security assessment and both the 2014 and 2013 fees include $1,500 for a license for access to an accounting standards research tool.

NU's Audit Committee pre-approves all auditing services and permitted audit related or other services (including the fees and terms thereof) to be performed for us by our independent registered public accounting firm, subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in Section 10A(i)(1)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which are approved by the Audit Committee prior to the completion of the audit. The Audit Committee may form and delegate its authority to subcommittees consisting of one or more members when appropriate, including the authority to grant pre-approvals of audit and permitted non-audit services, provided that decisions of such subcommittee to grant pre-approvals are presented to the full Audit Committee at its next scheduled meeting. During 2014, all services described above were pre-approved by the Audit Committee.

NU's Audit Committee has considered whether the provision by the Deloitte Entities of the non-audit services described above was allowed under Rule 2-01(c)(4) of Regulation S-X and was compatible with maintaining the independence of the registered public accountants and has concluded that the Deloitte Entities were and are independent of us in all respects.

**PART IV **

Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules

Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules

(a)1.Financial Statements:
The financial statements filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K are set forth under Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data."
2.Schedules
I.Financial Information of Registrant: Northeast Utilities (Parent) Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2014 and 2013S-1
Northeast Utilities (Parent) Statements of Income for the Years Ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012S-2
Northeast Utilities (Parent) Statements of Comprehensive Income for the Years Ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012S-2
Northeast Utilities (Parent) Statements of Cash Flows for the Years Ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012S-3
II.Valuation and Qualifying Accounts and Reserves for NU, CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO for 2014, 2013 and 2012S-4
All other schedules of the companies for which inclusion is required in the applicable regulations of the SEC are permitted to be omitted under the related instructions or are not applicable, and therefore have been omitted.
3.Exhibit IndexE-1

NORTHEAST UTILITIES

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

NORTHEAST UTILITIES
February 25, 2015By:/s/Jay S. Buth
Jay S. Buth
Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

Each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Gregory B. Butler, James J. Judge and Jay S. Buth and each of them, his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done, as fully to all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them, or their or his or her substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

SignatureTitleDate
/s/ Thomas J. MayChairman, President andFebruary 25, 2015
Thomas J. MayChief Executive Officer, and a Trustee
(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ James J. JudgeExecutive Vice President andFebruary 25, 2015
James J JudgeChief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial Officer)
/s/ Jay S. ButhVice President, ControllerFebruary 25, 2015
Jay S. Buthand Chief Accounting Officer
/s/ Richard H. BoothTrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
Richard H. Booth
/s/ John S. ClarkesonTrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
John S. Clarkeson
/s/ Cotton M. ClevelandTrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
Cotton M. Cleveland
/s/ Sanford Cloud, Jr.TrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
Sanford Cloud, Jr.
/s/ James S. DiStasioTrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
James S. DiStasio
/s/ Francis A. DoyleTrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
Francis A. Doyle
/s/ Charles K. GiffordTrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
Charles K. Gifford
/s/ Paul A. La CameraTrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
Paul A. La Camera
/s/ Kenneth R. LeiblerTrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
Kenneth R. Leibler
/s/ William C. Van FaasenTrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
William C. Van Faasen
/s/ Frederica M. WilliamsTrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
Frederica M. Williams
/s/ Dennis R. WraaseTrusteeFebruary 25, 2015
Dennis R. Wraase

THE CONNECTICUT LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

THE CONNECTICUT LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY
February 25, 2015By:/s/Jay S. Buth
Jay S. Buth
Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

Each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Gregory B. Butler, James J. Judge and Jay S. Buth and each of them, his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done, as fully to all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them, or their or his or her substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

SignatureTitleDate
/s/ Thomas J. MayChairman and a DirectorFebruary 25, 2015
Thomas J. May(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ Werner J. SchweigerChief Executive Officer and a DirectorFebruary 25, 2015
Werner J. Schweiger
/s/ James J. JudgeExecutive Vice President andFebruary 25, 2015
James J. JudgeChief Financial Officer and a Director
(Principal Financial Officer)
/s/ Gregory B. ButlerSenior Vice President and General CounselFebruary 25, 2015
Gregory B. Butlerand

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