Eversource Energy reported $942.3 million in earnings during 2016, or $2.96 per share, up from 2015 earnings of $878.5 million, or $2.76 per share.
Eversource Energy”™s transmission segment earned $370.8 million last year, up from $304.5 million in 2015, and its natural gas distribution segment earned $77.7 million in 2016, compared with $72.4 million one year earlier. However, its electric distribution and generation segment earned $462.8 million in 2016, down from $507.1 million in 2015. Nonetheless, Eversource Energy parent and other companies earned $31 million in 2016, compared with a net loss of $5.5 million in 2015, and the company credited its improved results to lower costs related to integration and a lower effective tax rate. Eversource Energy, formerly known as Northeast Utilities until February 2015, has headquarters in Hartford and Boston.
“2016 was a year of continued strong earnings and dividend growth and the emergence of new opportunities for us to be the catalyst for clean energy development in New England,” said Jim Judge, Eversource Energy president and CEO. “We envision 2017 to be a year during which many opportunities to enhance service and clean energy options for our customers advance, from bringing clean hydroelectric power into the region to enabling solar, energy storage, natural gas expansion, and offshore wind development.”
Separately, Eversource Energy reported fourth quarter 2016 earnings of $229.2 million, or 72 cents per share, compared with earnings of $181.8 million, or 57 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2015. The company also projected 2017 earnings of between $3.05 per share and $3.20 per share and long-term earnings per share growth through 2020 of between 5 percent and 7 percent, using 2016 earnings of $2.96 per share as the base.
