DR 97-230
                                     
                       Concord Electric Company and 
                     Exeter & Hampton Electric Company
                                     
                      1998/1999 Conservation Charges
                                     
                       Order Suspending Tariff Pages
                                     
                         O R D E R   N O.  22,891
                                     
                              March 31, 1998
                                     
         On January 6, 1998, Concord Electric Company and Exeter
     & Hampton Electric Company (collectively UNITIL) filed with the
     New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (Commission) a letter
     stating that it suspended all of its Demand Side Management (DSM)
     programs except for the Residential Social Services Program
     effective January 1, 1998.  All of the DSM programs had a
     benefit/cost ratio of less than one.  On February 27, 1998,
     UNITIL filed proposed Conservation Charges (CCs) for the period
     April 1, 1998 through March 31, 1999.  The proposed CCs include a
     reconciliation of prior over/underrecoveries, projected
     expenditures for the Residential Social Services Program,
     projected expenditures for ongoing regulatory reporting, and
     recovery of lost base revenues.
         Commission Staff (Staff) has notified the Commission
     that it requires time to investigate the filing and supporting
     materials and also to discuss with UNITIL the impact of the
     Commission's rehearing order in DR 96-150, Order No 22,573 (March
     20, 1998) on UNITIL's DSM programs on a forward-going basis. 
     Therefore, Staff has requested that the proposed tariff pages be
     suspended.  Staff has also noted that UNITIL's current CCs,
     implemented to collect for 1997/1998 DSM program costs, are still
     in effect.  Staff has recommended that UNITIL continue to collect
     its currently effective CCs until the Commission's final order in
     this proceeding and that any over/underrecoveries be reconciled
     at that time.
         We have reviewed Staff's request and will suspend the
     proposed CCs to allow a thorough review of the filing and
     supporting materials. 
         Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby
         ORDERED, that the following tariff pages are suspended:
         Concord Electric Company's:
              NHPUC No. 12-Electricity Fifth Revised Page 26
         Exeter & Hampton Electric Company's:
              NHPUC No. 17-Electricity Fifth Revised Page 26;
     
     and it is
     
         FURTHER ORDERED, that UNITIL continue to offer its
     Residential Social Services Program and to collect the CCs as
     approved in Commission Order No. 22,361 until this docket is
     resolved and a final order is issued.  
                   By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
     Hampshire this thirty-first 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