SHARE-BASED PAYMENTS (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Notes To Consolidated Financial Statements [Abstract]

Disclosure of Share-based Compensation Arrangements by Share-based Payment Award [Table Text Block]

			Weighted Average
	RSUs		Grant-Date
RSUs	(Units)		Fair Value
Outstanding as of December 31, 2011		959,920	$	26.36
Granted		585,135	$	32.98
Converted NSTAR awards upon merger		617,394	$	36.79
Converted from NU performance shares upon merger		451,358	$	34.32
Shares issued		(304,014)	$	27.96
Forfeited		(95,156)	$	34.99
Outstanding as of September 30, 2012		2,214,637	$	32.07

	Performance		Weighted Average
	Shares		Grant-Date
Performance Shares	(Units)		Fair Value
Outstanding as of December 31, 2011		483,133	$	29.18
Granted		227,683	$	34.37
Converted to RSUs upon merger		(451,358)	$	34.32
Shares issued		(106,773)	$	24.52
Forfeited		-	$	-
Outstanding as of September 30, 2012		152,685	$	25.04

NU	For the Three Months Ended				For the Nine Months Ended
(Millions of Dollars)	September 30, 2012		September 30, 2011		September 30, 2012		September 30, 2011
Compensation Cost Recognized	$	4.8	$	3.2	$	21.6	$	9.3
Associated Future Income Tax Benefit Recognized		1.9		1.3		8.7		3.7

	For the Three Months Ended
	September 30, 2012								September 30, 2011
(Millions of Dollars)	CL&P		NSTAR Electric		PSNH		WMECO		CL&P		NSTAR Electric⁽¹⁾		PSNH		WMECO
Compensation Cost Recognized	$	0.9	$	0.5	$	0.4	$	0.2	$	1.9	$	1.9	$	0.6	$	0.4
Associated Future Income Tax Benefit Recognized		0.4		0.2		0.1		0.1		0.8		0.8		0.3		0.1

	For the Nine Months Ended
	September 30, 2012								September 30, 2011
(Millions of Dollars)	CL&P		NSTAR Electric⁽¹⁾		PSNH		WMECO		CL&P		NSTAR Electric⁽¹⁾		PSNH		WMECO
Compensation Cost Recognized	$	3.9	$	5.4	$	1.5	$	0.8	$	5.4	$	5.8	$	1.9	$	1.0
Associated Future Income Tax Benefit Recognized		1.6		2.1		0.6		0.3		2.2		2.3		0.7		0.4

			Exercise Price Per Share
						Weighted		Intrinsic Value
	Options		Range			Average		(Millions)
Outstanding and Exercisable as of December 31, 2011		47,374	$ 18.58	-	$ 18.90	$	18.78
Converted NSTAR options upon merger		2,664,894				$	23.99	$	34.1
Exercised		(405,551)				$	23.74	$	5.3
Forfeited and cancelled		-
Outstanding and Exercisable as of September 30, 2012		2,306,717	$ 18.45	-	$ 28.12	$	23.92	$	34.0

- Definition

Tabular disclosure of components of a stock option or other award plan under which equity-based compensation is awarded to employees, typically comprised of the amount of unearned compensation (deferred compensation cost), compensation expense, and changes in the quantity and fair value of the shares (or other type of equity) granted, exercised, forfeited, and issued and outstanding pertaining to that plan. Disclosure may also include nature and general terms of such arrangements that existed during the period and potential effects of those arrangements on shareholders, effect of compensation cost arising from equity-based payment arrangements on the income statement, method of estimating the fair value of the goods or services received, or the fair value of the equity instruments granted, during the period, cash flow effects resulting from equity-based payment arrangements and, for registrants that accelerate vesting of out of the money share options, reasons for the decision to accelerate.

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