PENSION BENEFITS AND POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS OTHER THAN PENSIONS

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2013

Notes To Consolidated Financial Statements [Abstract]

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]

7. PENSION BENEFITS AND POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS OTHER THAN PENSIONS

The components of net periodic benefit expense for the Pension Plans (including the SERP Plans) and PBOP Plans, the portion of pension and PBOP amounts capitalized related to employees working on capital projects, and intercompany allocations not included in the net periodic benefit expense are as follows:

	Pension and SERP				Pension and SERP
	For the Three Months Ended				For the Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2013		June 30, 2012		June 30, 2013		June 30, 2012
(Millions of Dollars)	NU		NU		NU		NU
Service Cost	$	24.6	$	22.8	$	51.1	$	38.1
Interest Cost		51.9		53.2		103.5		91.3
Expected Return on Plan Assets		(68.6)		(59.4)		(139.0)		(101.9)
Actuarial Loss		52.6		47.4		105.5		77.4
Prior Service Cost		1.0		2.0		2.1		4.1
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense	$	61.5	$	66.0	$	123.2	$	109.0
Capitalized Pension Expense	$	19.9	$	19.7	$	36.6	$	30.3

	PBOP				PBOP
	For the Three Months Ended				For the Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2013		June 30, 2012		June 30, 2013		June 30, 2012
(Millions of Dollars)	NU		NU		NU		NU
Service Cost	$	3.7	$	4.5	$	8.5	$	6.8
Interest Cost		10.9		13.9		23.6		20.1
Expected Return on Plan Assets		(13.9)		(11.3)		(27.7)		(17.0)
Actuarial Loss		4.7		9.7		13.0		15.2
Prior Service Credit		(0.5)		(0.4)		(1.1)		(0.4)
Net Transition Obligation Cost		-		3.1		-		5.9
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense	$	4.9	$	19.5	$	16.3	$	30.6
Capitalized PBOP Expense	$	1.5	$	6.5	$	5.0	$	9.8

		Pension and SERP
		For the Three Months Ended June 30, 2013								For the Three Months Ended June 30, 2012
				NSTAR								NSTAR
(Millions of Dollars)		CL&P		Electric⁽¹⁾		PSNH		WMECO		CL&P		Electric⁽¹⁾		PSNH		WMECO
Service Cost		$	6.3	$	7.3	$	3.2	$	1.2	$	5.4	$	7.3	$	2.9	$	1.1
Interest Cost			12.1		14.7		5.9		2.5		12.9		14.7		6.1		2.6
Expected Return on Plan Assets			(18.4)		(20.2)		(9.2)		(4.4)		(17.7)		(16.3)		(7.2)		(4.1)
Actuarial Loss			13.9		14.6		5.4		2.9		12.6		15.9		4.1		2.7
Prior Service Cost/(Credit)			0.5		(0.1)		0.1		0.1		0.9		(0.1)		0.4		0.2
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense		$	14.4	$	16.3	$	5.4	$	2.3	$	14.1	$	21.5	$	6.3	$	2.5
Related Intercompany
	Allocations	$	11.3	$	(2.2)	$	2.6	$	2.0	$	10.7	$	(3.0)	$	2.4	$	2.0
Capitalized Pension Expense		$	7.0	$	6.5	$	1.7	$	1.3	$	6.8	$	8.9	$	1.9	$	1.2

		Pension and SERP
		For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2013								For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2012
				NSTAR								NSTAR
(Millions of Dollars)		CL&P		Electric⁽¹⁾		PSNH		WMECO		CL&P		Electric⁽¹⁾		PSNH		WMECO
Service Cost		$	12.4	$	16.5	$	6.5	$	2.4	$	10.9	$	15.1	$	5.8	$	2.1
Interest Cost			24.2		29.0		11.9		5.0		25.6		29.5		12.2		5.3
Expected Return on Plan Assets			(36.9)		(42.2)		(16.8)		(8.7)		(35.2)		(32.8)		(13.9)		(8.2)
Actuarial Loss			28.0		29.1		10.8		5.9		24.5		31.6		8.0		5.2
Prior Service Cost/(Credit)			0.9		(0.1)		0.3		0.2		1.8		(0.3)		0.8		0.4
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense		$	28.6	$	32.3	$	12.7	$	4.8	$	27.6	$	43.1	$	12.9	$	4.8
Related Intercompany
	Allocations	$	22.1	$	(4.1)	$	5.2	$	4.0	$	21.3	$	(6.2)	$	5.0	$	4.0
Capitalized Pension Expense		$	14.0	$	11.8	$	3.9	$	2.6	$	13.4	$	15.2	$	3.9	$	2.4

		PBOP
		For the Three Months Ended June 30, 2013						For the Three Months Ended June 30, 2012
(Millions of Dollars)		CL&P			PSNH		WMECO	CL&P		PSNH		WMECO
Service Cost		$	0.9	$	0.6	$	0.2	$	0.7	$	0.5	$	0.1
Interest Cost			2.0		1.0		0.4		2.3		1.1		0.5
Expected Return on Plan Assets			(2.5)		(1.3)		(0.6)		(2.3)		(1.1)		(0.5)
Actuarial Loss			1.9		0.9		0.3		1.8		0.8		0.3
Net Transition Obligation Cost			-		-		-		1.5		0.6		0.3
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense		$	2.3	$	1.2	$	0.3	$	4.0	$	1.9	$	0.7
Related Intercompany
	Allocations	$	1.9	$	0.4	$	0.3	$	1.9	$	0.5	$	0.4
Capitalized PBOP Expense		$	1.2	$	0.4	$	0.2	$	2.0	$	0.5	$	0.3

		PBOP
		For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2013						For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2012
(Millions of Dollars)		CL&P			PSNH		WMECO	CL&P		PSNH		WMECO
Service Cost		$	1.7	$	1.1	$	0.4	$	1.4	$	1.0	$	0.3
Interest Cost			3.9		2.0		0.8		4.6		2.3		1.0
Expected Return on Plan Assets			(5.0)		(2.6)		(1.2)		(4.5)		(2.3)		(1.1)
Actuarial Loss			3.7		1.8		0.6		3.8		1.8		0.6
Net Transition Obligation Cost			-		-		-		3.0		1.2		0.7
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense		$	4.3	$	2.3	$	0.6	$	8.3	$	4.0	$	1.5
Related Intercompany
	Allocations	$	3.6	$	0.8	$	0.6	$	4.1	$	1.0	$	0.8
Capitalized PBOP Expense		$	2.4	$	0.7	$	0.4	$	4.1	$	1.1	$	0.7

NSTAR Electric pension amounts are included in NU consolidated from the date of the merger, April 10, 2012, through June 30, 2012. NSTAR Electric's pension amounts do not include SERP expense.

The net periodic postretirement expense allocated to NSTAR Electric was a benefit of $2 million and an expense of $8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and an expense of $2.3 million and $17 million for the six months ended June 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

Contributions: For the six months ended June 30, 2013, NU contributed $75.7 million to the NUSCO Pension Plan, $44.2 million of which was contributed by PSNH, and NSTAR Electric contributed $22.9 million to the NSTAR Pension Plan. NU contributed $24.2 million to the PBOP Plans for the six months ended June 30, 2013.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for pension and other postretirement benefits.

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