Dive Brief:

• Two lawmakers have indicated Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) might be willing to discuss divesting its coal-fired assets now that its CEO has stepped down and its new owners, Connecticut's Northeast Utilities, have sent executives to meet with the Legislature's Electric Utility Restructuring Oversight Committee.
• A spokesman for PSNH maintains the utility has not changed its position that "we do not believe divestiture would be" in the state's interest. Further, any discussion of divestiture should occur at the Public Utilities Commission, not in the Legislature, PSNH said.  

Dive insight: 

PSNH faces other headwinds in addition to regional opposition to coal generation. The utility is struggling with a steady migration of customers to competitive electricity suppliers. Data as of July shows the utility has lost a quarter of its large commercial and industrial customers, two-thirds of its small business customers and a quarter of its residential customers.