Eversource says Connecticut's utility rate crackdown could affect Mass. and N.H. customers
The battles between energy companies Avangrid and Eversource and their chief regulator in Connecticut are now spilling over state lines. Eversource customers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire are getting caught in the crossfire, the company says. That's because credit rating agency S&P Global reduced its grades on Monday for Eversource and several operating subsidiaries, potentially driving up their borrowing costs. One of the big reasons is a decision by the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority in November to order rate decreases for two utilities owned by Avangrid. S&P, in its report on Eversource, said the PURA orders in November follow a pattern of "adverse regulatory developments" for investor-owned utilities in the state, increasing the business risk for Eversource. The rate cuts affect not just the parent company and its Connecticut operations, but also Eversource's electric and natural gas systems in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. For example, S&P dropped its "issuer credit rating" for the former Columbia Gas and NStar gas systems to BBB+ from A-. The ratings for the company's electric utilities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire also dropped one notch, but to A-, still a rock-solid rating. S&P analysts say they generally expect state regulators to allow full recovery of utilities' operating and capital costs in a timely manner, but given the current trend in Connecticut, S&P instead expects the state's PURA to issue "less-than-credit supportive" rate decisions into the future. However, it's too soon to know what kind of impact, if any, this change will have on rates in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. -- JON CHESTO
ECONOMY
About one in six US job postings require at least a bachelor's degree, a share that's been declining since the pandemic in data from Indeed Hiring Lab. The share of vacancies requiring a college education fell to 17.6 percent in October from about 20 percent in 2019. That represents tens of thousands more jobs potentially available today for the more than 60 percent of Americans who didn't graduate from college, Indeed said in a report. Facing acute labor shortages during the pandemic recovery, employers sought out workers who may be skilled but lack formal degrees. Major corporations like IBM Corp. dropped four-degree requirements to attract a larger pool of candidates. As the job market moderated this year, the share of vacancies that don't ask for a secondary degree leveled off. But it stabilized below pre-pandemic levels. The trend has implications for recent college graduates, who have had a harder time finding a job that matches their skills and have seen their wages falter. -- BLOOMBERG NEWS
MEDIA
The International Federation of Journalists said Tuesday that 104 journalists and media workers have been killed so far in 2024, with more than half of them perishing during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The group said that since the Oct. 7, 2023 start of the war, at least 138 had been killed, including 55 Palestinian media professionals in the calendar year. On top of the global fatalities, the IFJ said that the number of journalists in prison was also on the rise, with a sharp increase to 520, compared to 427 last year. "These sad figures show once again how fragile is press freedom and how risky and dangerous is the profession of journalism," said IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger. -- ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPORTS
The athletes whose lawsuit against the NCAA is primed to pave the way for schools to pay them directly also want a players' association to represent them in the complex contract negotiations that have overtaken the sport. Grant House, Sedona Prince, and Nya Harrison wrote to the judge overseeing what's known as the House settlement, saying that although they are generally happy with the terms of the proposed settlement "there still remains a critical need for structural changes to protect athletes and prevent the failures of the past." That, they said, would be a players' association, which they believe will help their voices be better heard as the NCAA and its schools move toward a system to share hundreds of millions in TV and ticket revenue with players. The players said an association would help standardize name-image-likeness (NIL) contracts to establish minimum payments and health protections "and to create an ecosystem where athletes can thrive." -- ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPACE TECH