DR 98-210
                                
     CONCORD ELECTRIC COMPANY AND EXETER & HAMPTON ELECTRIC
                            COMPANY
                                
 Fuel Adjustment Clause, Purchased Power Adjustment Clause, and
                 Administrative Service Charge
                                
                    Order Approving Charges
                                
                    O R D E R   N O.  23,096
                                
                       December 29, 1998
     
       APPEARANCES: LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae by Scott J.
     Mueller, Esq. on behalf of Concord Electric Company and
Exeter &
     Hampton Electric Company; and Henry J. Bergeron and Tracy M.
     Guyette for the Staff of the New Hampshire Public Utilities
     Commission.
     
          I.   PROCEDURAL HISTORY
               On December 3, 1998, Unitil Service Corporation,
     (Unitil), on behalf of Concord Electric Company (CEC) and
Exeter
     & Hampton Electric Company (E&H) (collectively the
Companies),
     filed with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission
     (Commission) revised tariff pages, supporting testimony, and
     exhibits for proposed revisions to the Companies' retail
fuel
     adjustment clauses (FAC) and purchased power adjustment
clauses
     (PPAC) and short-term purchased power rates for qualifying
     facilities (QFs) for the period of January 1, 1999 through
June
     30, 1999.
               On the same day, Unitil also filed a tariff filing
     revising its Administrative Service charge (ASC), which is
the
     Company's mechanism for collecting costs associated with the
     Pilot Program.
               On December 8, 1998, the Commission issued an
Order of
     Notice which noted that the proceeding would address issues
     related to cost recovery; forecasts of sales, revenues and
the
     prices of oil and gas; avoided costs for qualifying
facilities;
     and the treatment of Pilot Program costs.
               On December 17, the Executive Director & Secretary
     issued a secretarial letter to the parties in which the
scope of
     the proceeding was clarified.  It pointed out that the
adjustment
     to the Administrative Service charges would be addressed in
this
     docket instead of in a separate hearing.
          II.  POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES AND STAFF
                    A.   The Companies
               Unitil presented calculations supporting CEC's
request
     for a FAC credit of ($0.00998) per kWh, a PPAC charge of
$0.00319
     per kWh, and an ASC of $0.00005 per kWh.  The combined
effect of
     these three rates is to decrease a typical 500 kWh
residential
     customer's bill by $2.94 per month, or 5.72%.
               Unitil also presented calculations supporting
E&H's
     request for a FAC credit of ($0.01010) per kWh, a PPAC
charge of
     $0.00505 per kWh, and an ASC of $0.00008 per kWh.  The
combined
     effect of these three rates is to decrease a typical 500 kWh
     residential customer's bill by $2.14 per month, or 4.33%.
               Unitil witness Scott A. Long, Senior Energy
Analyst for
     Unitil Service Corp., presented the January 1999 through
December
     1999 Unitil Power Corporation (UPC) production plan,
associated
     costs, and estimated short-term avoided cost rate in his
direct
     testimony.  The UPC production plan is the basis for UPC's
fuel,
     purchased power, and transmission service costs, and is used
in
     developing UPC's wholesale rates which it charges CEC and
E&H
     under the Unitil System Agreement for firm service.
               UPC's demand charge is $24.37/kW-Month, the base
energy
     charge is $0.00493/kWh, and the fuel charge is $0.01575/kWh. 
The
     demand charge is increasing from $22.01/kW-Month primarily
due to
     a short term demand allocation correction made in this
filing. 
     Previously, short term demand dollars were incorrectly
allocated
     to fuel accounts.  Decreasing levels of overcollection from
the
     prior forecast period to the January through June 1999
forecast
     period also caused the demand charge to increase.
               The base energy charge is decreasing from
$0.00570/kWh
     to $0.00493/kWh due to lower forecast costs associated with
the
     Seabrook Station because of a refueling outage scheduled to
occur
     in March and April of 1999.  When the unit is not producing
     output, UPC is not obligated to pay.
               The fuel charge is decreasing from $0.02069/kWh to
     $0.01575/kWh primarily because of lower than projected oil
prices
     in the previous period (causing an overcollection), lower
     forecast oil prices in the January through June 1999 period,
and
     the effect of the 170 MW-yr contract which provides
dispatchable
     system energy with prices linked to Norwalk Harbor oil
prices. 
     Another factor in the decrease is the short term demand
     allocation correction described above which now properly
     allocates these charges to the demand charge instead of to
the
     fuel accounts.
               UPC's proposed rates represent a 10.72% increase
in
     demand charges (from $22.01/KW-Month to $24.37/KW-Month), a
     decrease of 13.51% in base energy charges (from $0.00570/kWh
to
     $0.00493/kWh), and a decrease of 23.88% in fuel charges
(from
     $0.02069/kWh to $0.01575/kWh).
               In her prefiled testimony, Linda S. Hafey, Project
     Leader of Regulatory Operations for Unitil Service Corp.,
     provided an explanation of the Companies' Mitigation
Proceeds
     Credit (MPC), the Sales Margin Retention Credit (SMRC), and
the
     Participation Incentive Credit (PIC) as well as the Non-
     Participant Protection Adjustment (NPA) for the Retail
     Competition Pilot Program.  This included an explanation of
how
     the NPA protects non-participating customers from
unrecovered
     power supply costs due to customer participation in CEC's
and
     E&H's Retail Competition Pilot Program.
               The Companies also filed revised tariffs for
short-term
     power purchase rates for Qualifying Facilities as follows:
               Energy Rates on Peak          2.51 cents per kWh
                           Off Peak          2.13 cents per kWh
                          All hours          2.29 cents per kWh
                     Capacity Rates         $0.00 per kW-year    
                    
                    B.   Commission Staff
               Staff did not provide testimony or oppose the
     Companies' filing but did conduct cross examination on a
number
     of issues: 1) the proposed decrease in rates when prior
Company
     testimony in another docket indicated that rates would
increase,
     2) the mitigation savings that Unitil Power has achieved by
     terminating contracts, 3) the recent buyout of the purchased
     power contract associated with the Baystate Agawam
Turboexpander
     facilities, 4) the relationship between the Connecticut
nuclear
     plant outages, the 170 MW-yr NU contract, and Norwalk Harbor
oil
     prices, and 5) the projected growth figures for the year
1999
     over 1998 and the accuracy of past forecasts.
          III. COMMISSION ANALYSIS
               We have reviewed all the testimony and exhibits in
this
     case, including the responses provided by the Companies. 
Based
     on our review of the record, we find that the proposed FAC
for
     the January 1, 1999 through June 30, 1999 period of a credit
of
     ($0.00998) per kWh for CEC and a credit of ($0.01010) per
kWh for
     E&H is just and reasonable.  We also find that the proposed
PPAC
     of $0.00319 per kWh for CEC and $0.00505 per kWh for E&H is
just
     and reasonable.  In addition, the proposed ASC of $0.00005
for
     CEC and $0.00008 for E&H is just and reasonable.  For a
typical
     CEC residential customer using 500 kWh per month, the net
result
     of these charges will be a $2.94 decrease to the monthly
bill. 
     For a typical E&H residential customer using 500 kWh per
month,
     the net result of these charges will be a $2.14 decrease to
the
     monthly bill.
               In addition, we find that the proposed short-term
     avoided capacity and energy rates proposed by the Companies
are
     just and reasonable.
               Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby 
               ORDERED, that Concord Electric Company's Fuel
     Adjustment charge for the period of January 1, 1999 through
June
     30, 1999 shall be a credit of ($0.00998) per kWh, its
Purchased
     Power Adjustment charge shall be $0.00319 per kWh, and its
     Administrative Service charge shall be $0.00005 per kWh; and
it
     is
               FURTHER ORDERED, that Exeter & Hampton Electric
     Company's  Fuel Adjustment charge for the period of January
1,
     1999 through June 30, 1999 shall be a credit of ($0.01010)
per
     kWh, its Purchased Power Adjustment charge shall be $0.00505
per
     kWh, and its Administrative Service charge shall be $0.00008
per
     kWh; and it is
               FURTHER ORDERED, that Concord Electric Company and
     Exeter & Hampton Electric Company file revised tariff pages
in
     compliance with this order on or before January 15, 1999.
               By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
     Hampshire this twenty-ninth day of December, 1998.
     
     
                                                                  
   
           Douglas L. Patch       Susan S. Geiger     Nancy
Brockway
               Chairman           Commissioner         
Commissioner
     
     
     
     Attested by:
     
                                         
     Thomas B. Getz
     Executive Director and Secretary