I’m told private talks between the Patrick administration and utility executives have focused mostly on rate relief, restrictions prohibiting the companies from seeking new rate increases for a period of years, and a commitment to buy a significant percentage of the power Cape Wind expects to generate.
The amount of power the combined utility would buy from Cape Wind has varied in discussions over time, from 20 percent to 35 percent of the wind farm’s output.
The most recent idea discussed - but not adopted by state officials or the utility - would combine $100 million of rate relief over five years, an agreement not to seek new rate increases for at least four years, and a deal to purchase 25 percent of Cape Wind’s power, according to a person briefed on the talks. Don’t be surprised if a final arrangement looks something like that.
Caroline Allen, a spokeswoman for NStar, declined to discuss any private negotiations with the administration.
Earlier in the day, I asked a spokeswoman for Richard Sullivan, Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs secretary, if her boss had talked to NStar about approving the merger and a rate settlement in return for purchasing 25 percent of Cape Wind’s power.
“The scenario you laid out has not happened,’’ Lisa Capone wrote back. She acknowledged that Sullivan did talk with NStar executives about buying Cape Wind power but insisted that those discussions and the merger were separate issues.
Regulators certainly have plenty of leverage in negotiations with NStar. As the Globe’s Erin Ailworth reported this week, they want to delay any merger approval pending a full review of NStar’s rates. That could push the process into 2012 and might be a deal killer. Regardless of the merits of a full rate review - and they may be very valid - the request is a powerful negotiating tool.
Attorney General Martha Coakley, another important player in the merger drama, says she will support the merger if it comes with the kind of rate relief that has been discussed with the administration.
