DR 98-014
                                     
                  Public Service Company of New Hampshire
                                     
                Fuel and Purchased Power Adjustment Clause
                                     
                    Order Approving Procedural Schedule
                                     
                         O R D E R   N O.  22,871
                                     
                              March 16, 1998
                                     
         On February 13, 1998, Public Service Company of New
     Hampshire (PSNH) filed with the New Hampshire Public Utilities
     Commission (Commission) a request to open a proceeding to
     consider PSNH's Fuel and Purchased Power Adjustment Clause
     (FPPAC) rate for the period June 1, 1998 through November 30,
     1998. 
         By Order of Notice issued February 19, 1998, the
     Commission scheduled a prehearing conference for March 5, 1998,
     set deadlines for intervention requests and objections thereto,
     outlined a proposed procedural schedule, and required the Parties
     and the Commission Staff (Staff) to summarize their positions
     with regard to the filing for the record.
         Waste Management of New Hampshire (WMNH), by its agent
     Philip L. Munck, filed with the Commission on February 26, 1998 a
     written request for intervention.  At the prehearing conference,
     the Commission granted WMNH's intervention.  The Office of the
     Consumer Advocate (OCA) is a statutorily recognized intervenor.  
         At the prehearing conference the Parties and Staff
     agreed to the procedural schedule as outlined in the Order of
     Notice, amending, however, the dates for the hearings on the
     merits to include the afternoon of May 11, 1998, and a full day
     of hearings on May 15, 1998.  The procedural schedule agreed to
     is as follows:
         PSNH files rate, testimony
              and exhibits.                      March 13, 1998      
         First Technical Session with all        March 24, 1998 
              Company witnesses.  Majority
              of data requests received.
     
         Staff, OCA and intervenors fax          March 25, 1998
              data requests to PSNH.
         
         PSNH notify Staff and/or intervenors    March 31 , 1998 
              of problematic data requests.
     
         Responses to March 24 data              April 7, 1998 
              requests filed.
     
         Second Technical Session with           April 16 , 1998 
              Company witnesses to attend
              on an as needed basis. 
              Follow-up data requests.
     
         Staff, OCA and intervenors fax          April 17 , 1998 
            data requests to PSNH.
         
                   Responses to April 16 data requests     April 24 , 1998 
              filed.
              
         PSNH files updated rate with February   April 27 , 1998 
              and March 1998 actual data and
              updated forecast, if necessary.
     
         Staff and intervenor testimony filed.      May 1 , 1998 
     
         Company Rebuttal testimony filed.          May 7, 1998
     
         Statement of issues filed.                 May 7, 1998
     
         Hearings on merits.                 May 11 at 1:30 p.m.                                May 12, 13, 14 and 15, 1998
                                          at 10:00 a.m each day
     
         Last transcript delivered                 May 15, 1998
              (next day copies).
     
         Revised statement of issues and           May 18, 1998
              order of issues in briefs.
     
         Briefs filed.                             May 26, 1998
     
         Commission meeting.                       June 1, 1998;
      
         Also at the prehearing conference, in accordance with
     the Order of Notice, PSNH and Staff stated their positions with
     regard to the filing for the record.
         We find the proposed procedural schedule to be
     reasonable and will, therefore, approve it for the duration of
     the proceeding.
                   Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby
         ORDERED, that the procedural schedule delineated above
     is APPROVED; and it is 
         FURTHER ORDERED, that Waste Management of New
     Hampshire's request for intervention is GRANTED.
         By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
     Hampshire this sixteenth day of March, 1998.
     
                                                                     
        Douglas L. Patch    Bruce B. Ellsworth        Susan S. Geiger
            Chairman           Commissioner            Commissioner
     
     Attested by:
     
     
     
                                      
     Thomas B. Getz
     Executive Director and Secretary