DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Notes To Consolidated Financial Statements [Abstract]

Compensation and Employee Benefit Plans [Text Block]

B.       Defined Contribution Plans

Effective January 1, 2014, Eversource maintains one defined contribution plan on behalf of eligible participants, the Eversource 401k Plan. The Eversource 401k Plan provides for employee and employer contributions up to statutory limits. For eligible employees, the Eversource 401k Plan provides employer matching contributions of either 100 percent up to a maximum of three percent of eligible compensation or 50 percent up to a maximum of eight percent of eligible compensation.Beginning in 2014 for newly hired employees, the Eversource 401k Plan provides employer matching contributions of 100 percent up to a maximum of three percent of eligible compensation.

The Eversource 401k Plan also contains a K-Vantage feature for the benefit of eligible participants, which provides an additional annual employer contribution based on age and years of service. K-Vantage participants are not eligible to actively participate in the Eversource Pension Plan.

The total defined Eversource 401k Plan employer matching contributions, including the K-Vantage contributions, were as follows:

					NSTAR
(Millions of Dollars)	Eversource		CL&P		Electric		PSNH		WMECO
2015	$	30.4	$	4.8	$	6.3	$	3.4	$	1.0
2014		29.7		5.0		6.3		3.2		1.0
2013		37.0		5.1		8.5		3.3		1.0

Allocations of Eversource common shares were made from Eversource treasury shares to satisfy a portion of the Eversource401k Plan obligation, which provides 100 percent of the matching contribution in Eversource common shares. For treasury shares used to satisfy the Eversource401k Plan employer matching contributions, compensation expense is recognized equal to the fair value of shares that have been allocated to participants. Any difference between the fair value and the average cost of the allocated treasury shares is charged or credited to Capital Surplus, Paid In on the balance sheet. For the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, Eversource recognized $7 million, $22 million and $9.1 million, respectively, of compensation expense related to treasury shares used to satisfy the matching contribution.