PENSION BENEFITS AND POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS OTHER THAN PENSIONS

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2014

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, SERP and PBOP Plans are detailed below. The net periodic benefit expense less the capitalized portion of pension and PBOP amounts is included in Operations and Maintenance on the statements of income. Capitalized pension and PBOP amounts relate to employees working on capital projects and are included in Property, Plant and Equipment, Net. Intercompany allocations are not included in the CL&P, NSTAR Electric, PSNH and WMECO net periodic benefit expense amounts.

	Pension and SERP				Pension and SERP
	For the Three Months Ended				For the Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2014		June 30, 2013		June 30, 2014		June 30, 2013
(Millions of Dollars)	NU		NU		NU		NU
Service Cost	$	19.1	$	24.6	$	41.5	$	51.1
Interest Cost		56.3		51.9		113.0		103.5
Expected Return on Plan Assets		(77.7)		(68.6)		(155.4)		(139.0)
Actuarial Loss		31.7		52.6		64.7		105.5
Prior Service Cost		1.1		1.0		2.1		2.1
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense	$	30.5	$	61.5	$	65.9	$	123.2
Capitalized Pension Expense	$	8.7	$	19.9	$	18.4	$	36.6

	PBOP				PBOP
	For the Three Months Ended				For the Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2014		June 30, 2013		June 30, 2014		June 30, 2013
(Millions of Dollars)	NU		NU		NU		NU
Service Cost	$	3.2	$	3.7	$	6.3	$	8.5
Interest Cost		12.1		10.9		24.7		23.6
Expected Return on Plan Assets		(15.8)		(13.9)		(31.6)		(27.7)
Actuarial Loss		3.0		4.7		6.0		13.0
Prior Service Credit		(0.7)		(0.5)		(1.4)		(1.1)
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense	$	1.8	$	4.9	$	4.0	$	16.3
Capitalized PBOP Expense	$	0.4	$	1.5	$	0.8	$	5.0

	Pension and SERP
	For the Three Months Ended June 30, 2014								For the Three Months Ended June 30, 2013
			NSTAR								NSTAR
(Millions of Dollars)	CL&P		Electric		PSNH		WMECO		CL&P		Electric⁽¹⁾		PSNH		WMECO
Service Cost	$	5.0	$	3.0	$	2.3	$	0.8	$	6.3	$	7.3	$	3.2	$	1.2
Interest Cost		12.4		10.3		5.8		2.5		12.1		14.7		5.9		2.5
Expected Return on Plan Assets		(18.7)		(15.7)		(9.3)		(4.4)		(18.4)		(20.2)		(9.2)		(4.4)
Actuarial Loss		8.2		5.9		2.8		1.7		13.9		14.6		5.4		2.9
Prior Service Cost/(Credit)		0.5		-		0.1		0.1		0.5		(0.1)		0.1		0.1
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense	$	7.4	$	3.5	$	1.7	$	0.7	$	14.4	$	16.3	$	5.4	$	2.3
Intercompany Allocations	$	7.5	$	1.4	$	2.1	$	1.4	$	11.3	$	(2.2)	$	2.6	$	2.0
Capitalized Pension Expense	$	4.4	$	1.0	$	0.8	$	0.6	$	7.0	$	6.5	$	1.7	$	1.3

	Pension and SERP
	For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2014								For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2013
			NSTAR								NSTAR
(Millions of Dollars)	CL&P		Electric		PSNH		WMECO		CL&P		Electric⁽¹⁾		PSNH		WMECO
Service Cost	$	10.2	$	7.6	$	5.1	$	1.9	$	12.4	$	16.5	$	6.5	$	2.4
Interest Cost		25.7		20.6		12.3		5.2		24.2		29.0		11.9		5.0
Expected Return on Plan Assets		(38.0)		(31.5)		(19.5)		(9.0)		(36.9)		(42.2)		(16.8)		(8.7)
Actuarial Loss		17.3		11.7		6.0		3.5		28.0		29.1		10.8		5.9
Prior Service Cost/(Credit)		0.9		-		0.3		0.2		0.9		(0.1)		0.3		0.2
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense	$	16.1	$	8.4	$	4.2	$	1.8	$	28.6	$	32.3	$	12.7	$	4.8
Intercompany Allocations	$	14.3	$	3.8	$	4.2	$	2.7	$	22.1	$	(4.1)	$	5.2	$	4.0
Capitalized Pension Expense	$	9.3	$	2.9	$	1.7	$	1.4	$	14.0	$	11.8	$	3.9	$	2.6

	PBOP
	For the Three Months Ended June 30, 2014								For the Three Months Ended June 30, 2013
(Millions of Dollars)	CL&P			NSTAR Electric		PSNH		WMECO	CL&P		PSNH		WMECO
Service Cost	$	0.5	$	0.8	$	0.3	$	0.1	$	0.9	$	0.6	$	0.2
Interest Cost		1.9		4.8		1.0		0.4		2.0		1.0		0.4
Expected Return on Plan Assets		(2.5)		(6.5)		(1.3)		(0.6)		(2.5)		(1.3)		(0.6)
Actuarial Loss/(Gain)		1.0		(0.2)		0.6		0.1		1.9		0.9		0.3
Prior Service Credit		-		(0.5)		-		-		-		-		-
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense/(Income)	$	0.9	$	(1.6)	$	0.6	$	0.0	$	2.3	$	1.2	$	0.3
Intercompany Allocations	$	1.1	$	-	$	0.3	$	0.2	$	1.9	$	0.4	$	0.3
Capitalized PBOP Expense/(Income)	$	0.5	$	(0.5)	$	0.2	$	-	$	1.2	$	0.4	$	0.2

	PBOP
	For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2014								For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2013
(Millions of Dollars)	CL&P			NSTAR Electric		PSNH		WMECO	CL&P		PSNH		WMECO
Service Cost	$	1.1	$	1.6	$	0.7	$	0.2	$	1.7	$	1.1	$	0.4
Interest Cost		4.0		9.7		2.1		0.8		3.9		2.0		0.8
Expected Return on Plan Assets		(5.2)		(13.0)		(2.7)		(1.1)		(5.0)		(2.6)		(1.2)
Actuarial Loss/(Gain)		2.1		(0.3)		1.1		0.2		3.7		1.8		0.6
Prior Service Credit		-		(0.9)		-		-		-		-		-
Total Net Periodic Benefit Expense/(Income)	$	2.0	$	(2.9)	$	1.2	$	0.1	$	4.3	$	2.3	$	0.6
Intercompany Allocations	$	2.2	$	0.1	$	0.6	$	0.4	$	3.6	$	0.8	$	0.6
Capitalized PBOP Expense/(Income)	$	1.0	$	(1.0)	$	0.4	$	0.1	$	2.4	$	0.7	$	0.4

NSTAR Electric's pension amounts for the three and six months ended June 30, 2013 do not include SERP expense.

For the three and six months ended June 30, 2013, the net periodic PBOP expense allocated to NSTAR Electric was a benefit of $2 million and an expense of $2.3 million, respectively.

As of December 31, 2013, the funded status of the NSTAR Pension Plan was recorded on NSTAR Electric's balance sheet while the total SERP obligation and PBOP Plan funded status were recorded on NSTAR Electric & Gas' balance sheet. As of December 31, 2013, all NSTAR employees were employed by NSTAR Electric & Gas. On January 1, 2014, NSTAR Electric & Gas was merged into NUSCO and, concurrently, all employees were transferred to the company they predominately provide services for: NUSCO, NSTAR Electric or NSTAR Gas. As a result of the employee transfers, the pension and PBOP assets and liabilities were attributed by participant and transferred to the respective company's balance sheets.

As of June 30, 2014, the liabilities associated with the Pension, SERP and PBOP plans for NSTAR Electric were $85.8 million for the Pension Plan, $3.6 million for the SERP Plans ($0.4 million of which is included in other current liabilities) and $61.2 million for the PBOP Plan. As of December 31, 2013, the liability associated with the NSTAR Pension Plan for NSTAR Electric was $118 million. This change had no impact on the income statement or net assets of NSTAR Electric or NU.