Company: CNLHP
Filing Date: 2025-02-14
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000072741-25-000007
Chunk: 44

Company: CONNECTICUT LIGHT & POWER CO
Filing Date: 2025-02-14
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 44
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ks:

Limits on our access to, or increases in, the cost of capital may adversely impact our ability to execute our business plan.

We use short-term debt and the long-term capital markets as a significant source of liquidity and funding for capital requirements not obtained from our operating cash flow. If access to these sources of liquidity becomes constrained, our ability to implement our business strategy could be adversely affected. In addition, interest rates may increase in the future. As a result, interest rates on future credit facilities and debt offerings could be higher than current levels, causing our financing costs to increase accordingly, which could adversely impact our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows. S&P recently downgraded the credit ratings of Eversource and its regulated utilities as a result of the challenging regulatory environment in Connecticut.  Downgrades of our credit ratings or events beyond our control, such as a disruption in global capital and credit markets, could increase our cost of borrowing and cost of capital or restrict our ability to access the capital markets and negatively affect our ability to maintain and to expand our businesses.

Market performance or changes in assumptions may require us to make significant contributions to our pension and other postretirement benefit plans.

We provide a defined benefit pension plan and other postretirement benefits for a substantial number of employees, former employees and retirees. Our future pension obligations, costs and liabilities are highly dependent on a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. These factors include estimated investment returns, interest rates, discount rates, health care cost trends, benefit changes, salary increases and the demographics of plan participants. If our assumptions prove to be inaccurate, our future costs could increase significantly. In addition, various factors, including underperformance of plan investments and changes in law or regulation, could increase the amount of contributions required to fund our pension plan in the future. Additional large funding requirements, when combined with the financing requirements of our construction program, could impact the timing, amounts, and number of future financings and negatively affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.

Goodwill, investments in equity method investments, and long-lived assets if impaired and written down, could adversely affect our future operating results and total capitalization.

We have a significant amount of goodwill on our consolidated balance sheet, which, as of December 31, 2024 totaled $3.57 billion.  The carrying value of goodwill represents the fair value of an acquired business in excess of the fair value of identifiable assets and liabilities as of the acquisition date. We test our goodwill