PROVIDENCE — The $5.3 billion sale of the Narragansett Electric Company to PPL Corporation is on hold following a decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
On Feb. 23, Rhode Island regulators approved the sale of the Narragansett Electric Company — National Grid’s electric and gas business for customers in Rhode Island. The next day, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha appealed the decision, saying it does not sufficiently provide assurances that the sale is in the best interests of Rhode Islanders.
Narragansett Electric’s operations are solely within Rhode Island, but the sale is on hold because of court action in Massachusetts, where National Grid is headquartered.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey had filed a motion with the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts to stay a waiver of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities’ jurisdiction over the sale. And on Thursday, the Massachusetts court granted that stay.
“We remain confident the court will find that the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities correctly issued the waiver and that the transaction can move forward,” PPL said in a statement Thursday. “In the meantime, we continue to plan for a successful outcome and completion of the Narragansett acquisition.
PPL said it’s prepared to quickly close on the sale at the appropriate time. “And we’re excited about the opportunity to invest in Rhode Island’s future and to work with the talented team at Narragansett Electric to drive significant value for Rhode Island families, businesses and communities,” the company said.
Kristy dosReis, spokeswoman for Neronha’s office, said now that the sale of Narragansett Electric has been put on hold, the attorney general’s office “looks forward to the opportunity to fully argue its appeal” before the Rhode Island Superior Court.
In a tweet, Neronha called the decision an important development.
“Now more likely this change of utility ownership will get full court review. By law regulators aren’t the last word - courts are,” he wrote. “Trying to ram a transaction through on regulator approval alone before judicial review can happen says a lot. None of it good.”
Kai Salem, policy coordinator for the Green Energy Consumers Alliance, said the group considers this a good decision because it is opposed to the sale to PPL. “We think it’s not in the public interest of Rhode Islanders, so we are grateful to the attorneys general in Massachusetts and Rhode Island for suggesting we need more time to figure this out,” she said.
Thursday’s decision is significant in part because it’s best to have the appeal process take place before the closing of the sale. “We do have concerns that this will further stave off any further energy program development, so it’s a mixed bag,” she said.
But Salem said regardless of the ownership question, Narragansett Electric should proceed with seeking proposals for offshore wind development, for example.
Narragansett Electric is the largest electricity transmission and distribution service provider in Rhode Island, and it is a natural gas distributor in the state, serving some 780,000 customers. Based in Allentown, Pa., PPL has about 2.7 million customers.