Mirant last week said that it has agreed to provide electricity to Unitil Energy Systems Inc. for transition and default service to Unitil’s New Hampshire customers. The agreement was approved by the New Hampshire Public Utility Commission (NHPUC) last Friday.

Mirant will provide approximately 260 MW of wholesale electricity to Unitil from its portfolio of assets in the region. Unitil will resell the electricity to its residential, commercial and industrial customers in New Hampshire. Specific terms of Mirant’s contract with Unitil were not disclosed.

The agreement is being executed pursuant to orders of the NHPUC to implement retail electric competition in New Hampshire effective May 1, 2003. Under the agreement, Mirant will also assume eight contracts for electric generation that utilize diverse fuel sources.

“Mirant continues to expand its presence by adding customers in the Northeast, a key region for our company,” said Tim Berrigan, vice president for marketing at Mirant. “Our agreement with Unitil demonstrates Mirant’s commitment to being a long-term participant in New England’s electricity market. Long-term contracts like these are a critical component to any well- functioning competitive market.”

“The contract with Mirant is the result of a very competitive RFP process which fully tested the market for both the sale of our existing supply portfolio and the acquisition of transition and default service for our customers,” said Mark H. Collin, Unitil’s chief financial officer. “This is a very good deal for our customers in a challenging market, and will complete Unitil’s transition to a fully restructured customer choice environment while providing for 100% recovery of stranded costs.”

Under the revised supply arrangements, overall electric rates for Unitil’s New Hampshire customers will rise on May 1, reflecting final, approved rates for stranded cost charge, external delivery charge and transition supply charges. Under the new rates, a residential customer using 500 kWh per month will pay $54.99 per month, an increase of $2.47 or 4.7% compared to a monthly bill of $52.52 under current rates.

Transition service energy supply will be available for three years for residential and small commercial customers beginning at a rate of $0.05148 per kWh, increasing to an expected $0.05316 on May 1, 2004, and $0.05652 on May 1, 2005. Transition service energy supply will be available for two years for large commercial and industrial customers, those who do not choose a competitive supply option, beginning at a rate of $0.05236 per kWh, increasing to $0.05407 on May 1, 2004.

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