Eversource sees 2Q earnings increase in ’17

Eversource earned $490.2 million, or $1.54 per share, during the first six months of this year.

Hartford-based Eversource Energy saw its second-quarter earnings increase by 13.3 percent this year and by 9.4 percent during the first six months of 2017, company officials said Thursday.

The energy delivery company reported earnings of $230.7 million, or 72 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2017. That is compared to earnings of $203.6 million, or 64 cents per share, during the same period a year ago.

Eversource earned $490.2 million, or $1.54 per share, during the first six months of this year, compared with earnings of $447.8 million, or $1.41 per share, during the same period in 2016.

Jim Judge, Eversource’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said company officials expect 2017 earnings of between $3.05 to $3.20 per share, “a level that is consistent with our 5-7 percent long-term EPS growth rate.”

Eversource saw earnings growth in its electric transmission segment as well as in the area of power distribution and generation. Jeff Kotkin, a spokesman for the company, said the improved earnings in the electric transmission sector were the result of increased investment in the transmission grid.

“The way it works is the more you invest in transmission, the more you earn,” Kotkin said.

The company’s natural gas distribution segment’s second quarter earnings came in at $4.5 million, which is $3.5 million, or 43.7 percent, less than it made during the same period in 2016. Natural gas distribution earnings for the first six month of this year were $55.3 million, which is $3.6 million, or 6.5 percent, less than the utility company made in the first half of 2016.

Eversource officials said the lower earnings in the second quarter were due primarily to lower natural gas usage this spring because of milder temperatures.

Eversource released its earnings after the close of U.S. financial markets on Thursday. The company’s stock, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ES, lost 23 cents to close at $60.71 cents Thursday.

Eversource operates New England’s largest energy delivery system, serving approximately 3.7 million electric and natural gas customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.