DR 98-096
CONCORD ELECTRIC COMPANY AND
EXETER & HAMPTON ELECTRIC COMPANY
Fuel Adjustment Clause and
Purchased Power Adjustment Clause Order Granting Concord Electric Company and
Exeter & Hampton's Motion for Confidential
Treatment of Certain Information
O R D E R N O. 22,985
July 21, 1998
On June 18, 1998, Concord Electric Company (CEC) and
Exeter & Hampton Electric Company (E&H) filed with the New
Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (Commission) a Motion for
Protective Order (Motion) with respect to certain confidential
information. Specifically, CEC and E&H request that the
following information pertaining to themselves, or to their
wholesale power affiliate, Unitil Power Corp. (Unitil, or
together with CEC and E&H, the Companies), be treated as
confidential, and not be made part of the public record in this
docket: all information filed in response to data requests in
this proceeding, and in-hearing oral questions and responses in
this proceeding related to the Companies' mitigation of purchased
power contracts and any negotiations related to such mitigation.
The Companies intend to make such information available to the
Commission Staff (Staff) under this requested protective order.
The Companies have received data requests and likely
may receive in-hearing questions from Staff that request
confidential information regarding Unitil's efforts to
renegotiate and mitigate costs under certain purchased power
contracts. The Companies aver this information is commercially
sensitive and proprietary in nature and/or constitutes trade
secrets. Disclosure of this information to a potential
competitor or to the public would harm the Companies' interests
and those of the Companies' ratepayers. The Companies state they
do not disclose this confidential information to anyone outside
of their corporate affiliates and the Companies' attorneys and
representatives.
The Commission recognizes that the information
identified above is the type of information which was anticipated
would be protected when N.H. Admin. Rules, Puc 204.06 was
adopted. The Commission also recognizes that the information
contained in the filing is sensitive commercial information in a
competitive market. Thus, based on the representations of the
Companies, under the balancing test we have applied in prior
cases, e.g., Re New England Telephone & Telegraph Company
(Auditel), 80 NHPUC 437 (1995); Re Bell Atlantic, Order No.
22,851 (February 17, 1998); Re Energynorth Natural Gas, Inc.,
Order No. 22,859 (February 24, 1998) we find that the benefits to
the Companies of non-disclosure in this case outweigh the
benefits to the public of disclosure. The information,
therefore, is exempt from public disclosure pursuant to RSA
91-A:5,IV and N.H. Admin. Rules, Puc 204.06.
Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby
ORDERED, that Concord Electric Company's and
Exeter & Hampton Electric Company's Motion for Protective Order
concerning information regarding the Companies, filed on June 18,
1998, is GRANTED; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED, that this Order is subject to the
ongoing rights of the Commission, on its own motion or on the
motion of Staff, any party or any other member of the public, to
reconsider this Order in light of RSA 91-A, should circumstances
so warrant.
By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
Hampshire this twenty-first day of July, 1998.
Douglas L. Patch Bruce B. Ellsworth Susan S. Geiger
Chairman Commissioner Commissioner
Attested by:
Thomas B. Getz
Executive Director and Secretary