INVESTMENT SECURITIES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

INVESTMENT SECURITIES [Abstract]

INVESTMENT SECURITIES

NOTE 7 - INVESTMENT SECURITIES

Millstone Decommissioning Trust Fund We have decommissioning trust fund investments related to our joint-ownership interest in Millstone Unit #3.  The decommissioning trust fund was established pursuant to various federal and state guidelines.  Among other requirements, the fund must be managed by an independent and prudent fund manager.  Any gains or losses, realized and unrealized, are expected to be refunded to or collected from ratepayers and are recorded as regulatory assets or liabilities in accordance with the FASB guidance for Regulated Operations.

An investment is impaired if the fair value of the investment is less than its cost and if management considers the impairment to be other-than-temporary.  Regulatory authorities limit our ability to oversee the day-to-day management of our nuclear decommissioning trust fund investments and therefore we lack investing ability and decision-making authority.  Accordingly, we consider all equity securities held by our nuclear decommissioning trusts with fair values below their cost basis to be other-than-temporarily impaired.  The FASB guidance for Investments - Debt and Equity Securities, requires impairment of debt securities if: 1) there is the intent to sell a debt security; 2) it is more likely than not that the security will be required to be sold prior to recovery; or 3) the entire unamortized cost of the security is not expected to be recovered.  For the majority of the investments shown below, we own a share of the trust fund investments.

In 2011, we had $0.1 million of realized gains and $0.2 million of realized losses.  The realized losses include minimal impairments associated with our equity securities; however, there were no permanent impairments or ‘credit losses' associated with our debt securities.  There were also no non-credit loss impairments of our debt securities in 2011.

In 2010, we had $0.1 million of realized gains and our realized losses were $0.1 million.  The realized losses include $0.1 million of impairments associated with our equity securities; however, there were no permanent impairments or ‘credit losses' associated with our debt securities.   In addition, there were no non-credit loss impairments to our debt securities in 2010.

The fair values of these investments are summarized below (dollars in thousands):

	As of December 31, 2011
	Amortized		Unrealized		Unrealized			Estimated
Security Types	Cost		Gains		Losses			Fair Value
Marketable equity securities	$	3,076	$	1,392				$	4,468
Marketable debt securities
Corporate bonds		329		28	$	(1	)		356
U.S. Government issued debt securities (Agency and Treasury)		884		79					963
State and municipal		87		2		(1	)		88
Other		29		1					30
Total marketable debt securities		1,329		110		(2	)		1,437
Cash equivalents and other		45							45
Total	$	4,450	$	1,502	$	(2	)	$	5,950

	As of December 31, 2010
	Amortized		Unrealized		Unrealized			Estimated
Security Types	Cost		Gains		Losses			Fair Value
Marketable equity securities	$	3,075	$	1,288				$	4,363
Marketable debt securities
Corporate bonds		333		19	$	(2	)		350
U.S. Government issued debt securities (Agency and Treasury)		861		53		(3	)		911
State and municipal		37		1					38
Other		35		1					36
Total marketable debt securities		1,266		74		(5	)		1,335
Cash equivalents and other		44							44
Total	$	4,385	$	1,362	$	(5	)	$	5,742

Information related to the fair value of debt securities at December 31, 2011 follows (dollars in thousands):

	Fair value of debt securities at contractual maturity dates
	Less than 1 year		1 to 5 years		5 to 10 years		After 10 years		Total
Debt Securities	$	66	$	268	$	318	$	785	$	1,437

At December 31, 2011, the fair value of debt securities in an unrealized loss position was $0.1 million.  At December 31, 2010, the fair value of debt securities in an unrealized loss position was $0.2 million.