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SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
A.    Basis of Presentation
Eversource Energy is a public utility holding company primarily engaged, through its wholly-owned regulated utility subsidiaries, in the energy delivery business.  Eversource Energy's wholly-owned regulated utility subsidiaries consist of CL&P, NSTAR Electric and PSNH (electric utilities), Yankee Gas, NSTAR Gas and Eversource Gas Company of Massachusetts (EGMA) (natural gas utilities) and Aquarion (water utilities). Eversource provides energy delivery and/or water service to approximately 4.3 million electric, natural gas and water customers through nine regulated utilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Eversource, NSTAR Electric and PSNH include the accounts of each of their respective subsidiaries.  Intercompany transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.  The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Eversource, NSTAR Electric and PSNH and the unaudited condensed financial statements of CL&P are herein collectively referred to as the "financial statements."

The combined notes to the financial statements have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.  Certain information and footnote disclosures included in annual financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP have been omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations.  The accompanying financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Combined Notes to Financial Statements included in Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data," of the Eversource 2020 Form 10-K, which was filed with the SEC on February 17, 2021. The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent liabilities as of the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.  Actual results could differ from those estimates.

The financial statements contain, in the opinion of management, all adjustments (including normal, recurring adjustments) necessary to present fairly Eversource's, CL&P's, NSTAR Electric's and PSNH's financial position as of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, and the results of operations, comprehensive income, common shareholders' equity, and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020. The results of operations, comprehensive income and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020 are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for a full year.  

Eversource's consolidated financial information includes the results of the acquisition of the assets of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts (CMA) on October 9, 2020. The natural gas distribution assets acquired from CMA on October 9, 2020 were assigned to EGMA.

Eversource consolidates the operations of CYAPC and YAEC, both of which are inactive regional nuclear power companies engaged in the long-term storage of their spent nuclear fuel. Eversource consolidates CYAPC and YAEC because CL&P's, NSTAR Electric's and PSNH's combined ownership and voting interests in each of these entities is greater than 50 percent.  Intercompany transactions between CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and the CYAPC and YAEC companies have been eliminated in consolidation of the Eversource financial statements.

Eversource holds several equity ownership interests that are not consolidated and are accounted for under the equity method.

Eversource's utility subsidiaries' electric, natural gas and water distribution and transmission businesses are subject to rate-regulation that is based on cost recovery and meets the criteria for application of accounting guidance for entities with rate-regulated operations, which considers the effect of regulation on the differences in the timing of the recognition of certain revenues and expenses from those of other businesses and industries. See Note 2, "Regulatory Accounting," for further information.

COVID-19 continues to adversely affect customers, workers and the U.S. economy. We continue to operate under our pandemic response plan, which requires remote work arrangements for nearly half of our workforce and other mitigating requirements for those that are required onsite in our electric, natural gas and water operations, construction and management functions. We continue to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and how the related developments affect Eversource. We have not experienced significant impacts directly related to the pandemic that have materially affected our current operations, our workforce, or results of operations. The extent of the impact to us in the future will vary, and depend on the duration, scope and severity of the pandemic and the resulting impact on economic, health care and capital market conditions. The future impact will also depend on the outcome of future proceedings before our state regulatory commissions to recover our incremental costs associated with COVID-19, which include uncollectible customer receivable expenses.
Based on the status of our COVID-19 regulatory dockets, communications with our state regulatory commissions, and policies and practices in each of our jurisdictions, we believe each of our state regulatory commissions will allow us to recover our incremental costs associated with COVID-19, which include uncollectible customer receivable expenses, while balancing the impact on our customers’ bills and our operating cash flows. See Note 1C, "Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts," for discussion of our evaluation of the allowance for doubtful accounts as of March 31, 2021 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and Note 2, "Regulatory Accounting," for the amount of net incremental COVID-19 costs deferred on our balance sheet.

Certain reclassifications of prior period data were made in the accompanying financial statements to conform to the current period presentation.

B.    Accounting Standards
Accounting Standards Recently Adopted: On January 1, 2021, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740) - Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes, which eliminates certain exceptions to the general principles of current income tax guidance in ASC 740 and simplifies and improves consistency in application of that income tax guidance through clarifications of and amendments to ASC 740. The ASU did not have a material impact on the financial statements of Eversource, CL&P, NSTAR Electric and PSNH.

C.    Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts
Receivables, Net on the balance sheets primarily includes trade receivables from retail customers and customers related to wholesale transmission contracts, wholesale market sales, sales of RECs and property rentals. Receivables, Net also includes customer receivables for the purchase of electricity from a competitive third party supplier, the current portion of customer energy efficiency loans, property damage receivables and other miscellaneous receivables. There is no material concentration of receivables. Receivables are recorded at amortized cost, net of a credit loss provision (or allowance for uncollectible accounts).

Receivables are presented net of expected credit losses at estimated net realizable value by maintaining an allowance for uncollectible accounts. The current expected credit loss (CECL) model is applied to receivables for purposes of calculating the allowance for uncollectible accounts. This model is based on expected losses and results in the recognition of estimated expected credit losses, including uncollectible amounts for both billed and unbilled revenues, over the life of the receivable at the time a receivable is recorded.

The allowance for uncollectible accounts is determined based upon a variety of judgments and factors, including the application of an estimated uncollectible percentage to each receivable aging category.  Factors in determining credit loss include historical collection, write-off experience, and management's assessment of collectability from customers, including current conditions, reasonable forecasts, and expectations of future collectability and collection efforts. Management continuously assesses the collectability of receivables and adjusts estimates based on actual experience and future expectations based on economic indicators, collection efforts and other factors.  Management also monitors the aging analysis of receivables to determine if there are changes in the collections of accounts receivable. Receivable balances are written off against the allowance for uncollectible accounts when the customer accounts are no longer in service and these balances are deemed to be uncollectible.

As of March 31, 2021, management evaluated the adequacy of the allowance for uncollectible accounts in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related economic downturn. This evaluation included an analysis of collection and customer payment trends, economic conditions, delinquency statistics, aging-based quantitative assessments, the impact on residential customer bills because of energy usage and change in rates, flexible payment plans and financial hardship arrearage management programs being offered to customers, and COVID-19 developments, including any potential federal governmental pandemic relief programs and the expansion of unemployment benefit initiatives, which help to mitigate the potential for increasing customer account delinquencies. Additionally, management considered past economic declines and corresponding uncollectible reserves as part of the current assessment. This evaluation has shown that our operating companies have experienced an increase in aged receivables and lower cash collections from customers because of the moratorium on disconnections and the economic slowdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Based upon the evaluation performed, in the first quarter of 2021, management increased the allowance for uncollectible accounts for amounts incurred as a result of COVID-19 by $15.5 million for Eversource ($5.6 million for CL&P, $3.7 million for NSTAR Electric, and $6.2 million at our natural gas businesses). These COVID-19 related uncollectible amounts were deferred either as incremental regulatory costs or deferred through existing regulatory tracking mechanisms that recover uncollectible energy supply costs, as management believes it is probable that these costs will ultimately be recovered from customers in future rates. As of March 31, 2021, the total amount incurred as a result of COVID-19 included in the allowance for uncollectible accounts was $47.0 million at Eversource ($8.4 million at CL&P, $14.7 million at NSTAR Electric, $2.3 million at PSNH, and $21.6 million at our natural gas businesses).

Management concluded that the reserve balance as of March 31, 2021 adequately reflected the collection risk and net realizable value for Eversource’s receivables. Management will continue to evaluate the adequacy of the uncollectible allowance in future reporting periods based on an ongoing assessment of accounts receivable collections, delinquency statistics, and analysis of aging-based quantitative assessments.

The PURA allows CL&P and Yankee Gas to accelerate the recovery of accounts receivable balances attributable to qualified customers under financial or medical duress (uncollectible hardship accounts receivable) outstanding for greater than 180 days and 90 days, respectively.  The DPU allows NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas and EGMA to recover in rates amounts associated with certain uncollectible hardship accounts receivable. These uncollectible hardship customer account balances are included in Regulatory Assets or Other Long-Term Assets on the balance sheets. Hardship customers are protected from shut-off in certain circumstances, and historical collection experience has reflected a higher default risk as compared to the rest of the receivable population. Management uses a higher credit risk profile for this pool of trade receivables as compared to non-hardship receivables. The allowance for uncollectible hardship accounts is included in the total uncollectible allowance balance.
The total allowance for uncollectible accounts is included in Receivables, Net on the balance sheets. The activity in the allowance for uncollectible accounts by portfolio segment is as follows:
EversourceCL&PNSTAR ElectricPSNH
(Millions of Dollars)Hardship AccountsRetail (Non-Hardship),
Wholesale, and Other Receivables
Total AllowanceHardship AccountsRetail (Non-Hardship),
Wholesale and Other Receivables
Total AllowanceHardship AccountsRetail (Non-Hardship),
Wholesale, and Other Receivables
Total AllowanceTotal Allowance
Three Months Ended 2021
Beginning Balance$194.8 $164.1 $358.9 $129.1 $28.3 $157.4 $39.7 $51.9 $91.6 $17.2 
Uncollectible Expense— 16.3 16.3 — 3.8 3.8 — 3.9 3.9 1.2 
Uncollectible Costs
   Deferred (1)
5.4 27.1 32.5 11.9 7.5 19.4 (8.5)8.4 (0.1)1.2 
Write-Offs(3.3)(16.7)(20.0)(2.9)(4.0)(6.9)(0.1)(7.5)(7.6)(2.5)
Recoveries Collected0.4 3.6 4.0 0.3 1.1 1.4 — 1.5 1.5 0.2 
Ending Balance$197.3 $194.4 $391.7 $138.4 $36.7 $175.1 $31.1 $58.2 $89.3 $17.3 
Three Months Ended 2020
Beginning Balance$143.3 $81.5 $224.8 $80.1 $17.2 $97.3 $43.9 $31.5 $75.4 $10.5 
ASU 2016-13
   Implementation Impact
   on January 1, 2020
21.6 2.2 23.8 21.3 0.9 22.2 (1.6)0.3 (1.3)0.3 
Uncollectible Expense— 11.4 11.4 — 3.2 3.2 — 3.7 3.7 0.7 
Uncollectible Costs
   Deferred (1)
11.8 8.5 20.3 12.9 1.8 14.7 (3.4)3.4 — 1.3 
Write-Offs(4.7)(16.8)(21.5)(3.8)(3.5)(7.3)(0.4)(8.0)(8.4)(1.7)
Recoveries Collected0.2 3.1 3.3 0.2 0.6 0.8 — 1.7 1.7 0.1 
Ending Balance$172.2 $89.9 $262.1 $110.7 $20.2 $130.9 $38.5 $32.6 $71.1 $11.2 

(1) The current period provision for expected credit losses is deferred as a regulatory cost on the balance sheets, as this amount is ultimately
recovered in rates. Amounts include uncollectible costs for hardship accounts and other customer receivables, including uncollectible
amounts related to COVID-19.

D.    Fair Value Measurements
Fair value measurement guidance is applied to derivative contracts that are not elected or designated as "normal purchases" or "normal sales" (normal) and to the marketable securities held in trusts.  Fair value measurement guidance is also applied to valuations of the investments used to calculate the funded status of pension and PBOP plans, the nonrecurring fair value measurements of nonfinancial assets such as goodwill, long-lived assets, equity method investments, and AROs, and in the valuation of the acquisition of CMA's assets in 2020. The fair value measurement guidance was also applied in estimating the fair value of preferred stock, long-term debt and RRBs.

Fair Value Hierarchy:  In measuring fair value, Eversource uses observable market data when available in order to minimize the use of unobservable inputs.  Inputs used in fair value measurements are categorized into three fair value hierarchy levels for disclosure purposes.  The entire fair value measurement is categorized based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement.  Eversource evaluates the classification of assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a quarterly basis. The levels of the fair value hierarchy are described below:

Level 1 - Inputs are quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities as of the reporting date.  Active markets are those in which transactions for the asset or liability occur in sufficient frequency and volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis.  

Level 2 - Inputs are quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active, and model-derived valuations in which all significant inputs are observable.

Level 3 - Quoted market prices are not available.  Fair value is derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or assumptions are unobservable.  Where possible, valuation techniques incorporate observable market inputs that can be validated to external sources such as industry exchanges, including prices of energy and energy-related products.  

Uncategorized - Investments that are measured at net asset value are not categorized within the fair value hierarchy.

Determination of Fair Value:  The valuation techniques and inputs used in Eversource's fair value measurements are described in Note 4, "Derivative Instruments," Note 5, "Marketable Securities," Note 10, "Fair Value of Financial Instruments," and Note 17, "Acquisition of Assets of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts," to the financial statements.
E.    Other Income, Net
The components of Other Income, Net on the statements of income were as follows:
 For the Three Months Ended
 March 31, 2021March 31, 2020
(Millions of Dollars)EversourceCL&PNSTAR ElectricPSNHEversourceCL&PNSTAR ElectricPSNH
Pension, SERP and PBOP Non-Service
   Income Components
$20.1 $2.7 $10.1 $2.7 $12.7 $1.1 $7.9 $1.9 
AFUDC Equity9.2 1.7 6.2 0.6 10.6 3.9 5.0 1.5 
Equity in Earnings of Unconsolidated Affiliates3.7 — 0.1 — 4.0 — 0.1 — 
Investment (Loss)/Income(0.6)0.4 0.2 0.1 (4.3)(3.4)(1.3)(0.5)
Interest Income1.5 0.1 0.1 0.7 0.7 0.3 0.1 0.3 
Other0.3 — 0.1 0.1 0.4 — 0.4 — 
Total Other Income, Net$34.2 $4.9 $16.8 $4.2 $24.1 $1.9 $12.2 $3.2 

F.    Other Taxes
Eversource's companies that serve customers in Connecticut collect gross receipts taxes levied by the state of Connecticut from their customers. These gross receipts taxes are recorded separately with collections in Operating Revenues and with payments in Taxes Other Than Income Taxes on the statements of income as follows:
 For the Three Months Ended
(Millions of Dollars)March 31, 2021March 31, 2020
Eversource$48.6 $43.1 
CL&P39.2 35.5 

As agents for state and local governments, Eversource's companies that serve customers in Connecticut and Massachusetts collect certain sales taxes that are recorded on a net basis with no impact on the statements of income. 

G.    Supplemental Cash Flow Information
Non-cash investing activities include plant additions included in Accounts Payable as follows:
(Millions of Dollars)As of March 31, 2021As of March 31, 2020
Eversource$262.9 $273.7 
CL&P70.9 85.0 
NSTAR Electric68.2 70.2 
PSNH23.5 37.9 

The following table reconciles cash as reported on the balance sheets to the cash and restricted cash balance as reported on the statements of cash flows:
 As of March 31, 2021As of December 31, 2020
(Millions of Dollars)EversourceCL&PNSTAR ElectricPSNHEversourceCL&PNSTAR ElectricPSNH
Cash as reported on the Balance Sheets$34.1 $9.3 $0.1 $2.0 $106.6 $90.8 $0.1 $0.1 
Restricted cash included in:
Special Deposits58.4 8.6 17.2 22.2 73.6 8.7 17.2 36.8 
Marketable Securities38.4 0.4 0.1 0.6 41.2 0.3 0.1 0.6 
Other Long-Term Assets44.7 — — 3.2 43.6 — — 2.1 
Cash and Restricted Cash as reported on the
    Statements of Cash Flows
$175.6 $18.3 $17.4 $28.0 $265.0 $99.8 $17.4 $39.6 
Special Deposits represent cash collections related to the PSNH RRB customer charges that are held in trust, required ISO-NE cash deposits, and CYAPC and YAEC cash balances. Special Deposits are included in Current Assets on the balance sheets. Restricted cash included in Marketable Securities represents money market funds held in trusts to fund certain non-qualified executive benefits and restricted trusts to fund CYAPC and YAEC's spent nuclear fuel storage obligations. Restricted cash included in Other Long-Term Assets includes $41.5 million related to an Energy Relief Fund for energy efficiency and clean energy measures in the Merrimack Valley, and an additional energy efficiency program established under the terms of the EGMA settlement agreement.