NSTAR 1Q earnings rise 23.9%

BOSTON – Natural gas and electric utility NSTAR (NYSE: NST) reported a first-quarter profit of $59.24 million, a 23.9-percent increase from the year-ago $47.82 million, on revenue that fell 9.0 percent to $895.58 million. Earnings per diluted common share rose to 55 cents, a 22-percent increase from the 2007 first quarter’s 45 cents per share.

NSTAR cited “revenues related to our growing transmission business and an improvement in earnings from non-utility operations,” as well as higher distribution revenue under the seven-year agreement that took effect two years ago and a 1.2-percent increase in electric sales.

Partly offsetting those positive factors were a 3.2-percent decline in natural gas sales, reflecting the past season’s milder weather, and higher depreciation costs “from the continued investment in our electric and gas system infrastructure,” the company said.

Dividends paid per common share rose to 35 cents, a 7.7-percent increase from the 2007 first quarter’s 32.5 cents per share, NSTAR said.

“Our performance in the first quarter provides a solid start for the year,” said Thomas J. May, the company’s chairman, president and CEO, said in an after-market statement. “We maintain our commitment to deliver [both] superior service to customers and excellent results to shareholders,” he said.

“We are committed to investing in our infrastructure to ensure that we maintain high reliability and we’re working hard to keep our costs at the lowest level possible.

In addition, we are also supporting the City of Boston’s recently announced ‘Solar Boston’ initiative …. The goal of this program is to increase the amount of installed solar capacity to 25 megawatts by 2015, from just a half a megawatt today.

“We need dynamic and innovative solutions to help meet our customers’ growing energy needs in the cleanest, most efficient way possible,” May said. “Through these programs, we hope to meet these challenges while also maximizing the use of renewable technologies.”

Among other renewable-energy initiatives, NSTAR also is a sponsor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s nationwide Clean Energy Entrepreneurship Prize (CEEP) Competition. (READ MORE)

The company yesterday reaffirmed its 2008 full-year earnings guidance of $2.16 to $2.26 per share.

NSTAR (NYSE: NST) is a natural gas and electric utility serving 1.4 million customers in New Bedford, Dartmouth, Fairhaven and other portions of eastern and central Massachusetts. Additional information is available at www.nstar.com.