MA Sister Utilities Seeking to Merge Operating Companies, What's the Impact on Default Service?

Eversource in Massachusetts is seeking to merge its Nstar Electric operating unit with its Western Massachusetts Electric Co. operating unit to form a single legal entity, and petitioned the DPU for an advisory opinion

Eversource said that any change or consolidation in basic service processes (procurements, rates) would be addressed in a future proceeding if any were found to be warranted and appropriate and were to be proposed. Eversource did not opine on whether it would seek such consolidation in the future

Nstar itself is comprised of three former operating companies (Boston Edison, Cambridge Electric, and Commonwealth Electric), and each operating company, for the applicable load zone, has the same basic service rates, though the rates, independent of operating company, do vary by ISO-NE zone for large customers