DR 98-154

CONCORD ELECTRIC COMPANY AND EXETER & HAMPTON ELECTRIC COMPANY

Electric Utility Restructuring: Offer of Settlement

Prehearing Conference Order

O R D E R   N O.  23,033

October 5, 1998

         APPEARANCES: Scott Mueller, Esq. for Unitil; Carlos
Gavilondo, Esq. for Granite State Electric Company; Michael
Holmes, Esq. for the Office of Consumer Advocate; Pentti J. Aalto
for PJA Energy Systems Design; Gary Gilmore for the Campaign for
Ratepayers Rights; F. Anne Ross, Esq. for the New Hampshire
Retail Merchants Association; Wynn E. Arnold, Assistant Attorney
General for the Governor's Office of Energy and Community
Services; James Monahan for Cabletron Systems, Inc.; Daniel
Allegretti, Esq. for Enron Energy Services, Inc.; Charles Clough,
Esq. for Freedom Partners, L.L.C.; and, Robert Frank, Esq. for
the Staff of the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission.


         On September 8, 1998, a proposed Unitil Restructuring
Settlement Agreement (Settlement) was filed by Concord Electric
Company (CEC), Exeter & Hampton Electric Company (E&H), Unitil
Resources Inc.(URI), Unitil Service Company (USC), and Unitil
Power Corp. (UPC) (collectively, Unitil) on behalf of several
parties.  In addition to Unitil, the following entities are
signatories to the Settlement: the Staff of the New Hampshire
Public Utilities Commission (Staff); Cabletron Systems, Inc.
(Cabletron); Enron Energy Services, Inc. (Enron); the Office of
Consumer Advocate (OCA); the Retail Merchants Association of New
Hampshire (RMA); Freedom Partners, L.L.C. (Freedom Partners); and
the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire (BIA).     
         A duly noticed prehearing conference was held on
September 18, 1998.
INTERVENTIONS
         Prior to the prehearing conference, written requests
for intervention were received from the Campaign for Ratepayers
Rights (CRR), Cabletron, the Governor's Office of Energy and
Community Services, the RMA, and State Representative Jeb E.
Bradley.  At the prehearing conference, the Commission granted
intervention to each of these parties, and conditionally granted
intervention to the following parties on their oral motions
subject to the filing of a written request by September 23, 1998:
Enron, Freedom Partners, BIA, PJA Energy Systems Design (PJA),
Granite State Electric Company (GSEC).  Written requests by these
parties have been received and their interventions are granted. 
Subsequent to the prehearing conference a written request for
late intervention was filed by the New Hampshire Electric
Cooperative, Inc., and, having received no objection,
intervention is granted.  The Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA)
is a statutorily recognized intervenor.  

SCHEDULE
         During the prehearing conference, the Commission
approved the following procedural schedule:
         Technical Session..............September 18, 1998                               (immediately after Prehearing)

         Technical Session..............September 24, 1998
         Intervenor Testimony...........October 7, 1998
         Technical Session/
         Settlement Conference..........October 12, 1998 
                                        (9:00 A.M.)
                                       
         Rebuttal Testimony.............October 16, 1998

         Hearings.......................October 21-22, 1998
         Post-Hearing Briefs............October 29, 1998 
         The parties have agreed to conduct discovery on a
rolling basis up to the scheduled hearings, a proposal which the
Commission herein approves.
         Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby 
         ORDERED, that the Commission affirms and ratifies its
prior rulings on intervention, grants such additional requests
for intervention as discussed above, and approves the procedural
schedule as set forth in the body of this order.

         By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
Hampshire this fifth day of October, 1998.

                                                                          
               Douglas L. Patch     Bruce B. Ellsworth    Susan S. Geiger
                   Chairman            Commissioner         Commissioner

Attested by:



                                 
Thomas B. Getz
Executive Director and Secretary