EVERSOURCE ENERGY AUCTION OF GENERATION FACILITIES
ORDER No. 25, 956
DE 16-817
New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission
October 21, 2016
Order
Approving Removal of Mercury Boilers from Schiller Generation
Station
Martin
P. Honigberg Chairman
In this
order the Commission approves Eversource's removal of two
mercury boilers and associated equipment located at Schiller
generation station as recommended by the Commission's
auction advisor, J.P. Morgan.
I.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
This
docket was established to conduct the sale of the fossil and
hydro electric generation facilities (Generation Facilities)
owned by Eversource Energy (Public Service Company of New
Hampshire) d/b/a Eversource Energy (Eversource) as ordered in
Order No. 25, 920 (July 1, 2016) (Auction Order). The Auction
Order approved the 2015 Public Service Company of New
Hampshire Restructuring and Rate Stabilization Agreement
filed with the Commission on June 10, 2015, (2015 Settlement)
as amended by the Partial Litigation Settlement filed on
January 26, 2016 (Litigation Settlement). The Auction Order
and the settlements approved in that Order require the sale
of the Generation Facilities to be conducted by an auction
advisor selected by the Commission.
Following
a competitive request for proposals, the Commission selected
J.P. Morgan as its auction advisor (JPM). The contract with
JPM to conduct the sale of the Generation Assets was approved
by the Governor and the Executive Council on September 7,
2016. On September 12, 2016, JPM filed a description of the
proposed auction process with the Commission. On October 18,
2016, JPM filed a modification to the proposed auction
process to facilitate municipal participation in the auction.
The proposed auction process, together with all other filings
in this docket, except for any information for which
confidential treatment has been requested of or granted by
the Commission, are posted to the Commission's website at
http://www.puc.nh.gov/Regulatory/Docketbk/2016/16-817.html.
The
Commission issued an order of notice on September 7, 2016,
and held a prehearing conference on September 19, as
scheduled. The Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) filed its
notice of participation on September 13, 2016, and the
following parties sought intervention: the Towns of Gorham,
Bristol and New Hampton, the Cities of Berlin and Concord,
the Sierra Club, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), the
Office of Energy and Planning (OEP), and the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1837 (IBEW).
All
parties present at the prehearing conference questioned JPM
about the proposed auction process. Following the hearing,
during a technical session, parties had further opportunity
for questions and discussions with JPM. Commission Staff
(Staff) filed a letter on September 21 summarizing the
parties' discussions at the technical session. The
Commission granted all intervention requests by Secretarial
Letter on September 22, 2016, and required JPM to respond to
follow-up questions from parties. The Town of New Hampton
submitted a question to JPM on September 21, and JPM
responded on September 29. The parties filed written comments
on September 30, 2016.
II.
POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES
A.
J.P. Morgan
In the
report filed by Staff on September 12, 2016, JPM expressed
its preliminary recommendation for removal of the mercury
boiler at Schiller. Rather than paraphrase, we quote in full
from the recommendation:
J.P. Morgan understands that there are two retired mercury
boilers located at the Schiller facility that are no longer
in operation, but that may contain residual amounts of
mercury. The Commission has asked J.P. Morgan to provide its
view on whether it is in
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