CT investigating NU's outsourcing

Contributed Photo Tom May, the pre-merger president, chairman, and CEO of NStar, is now the president, chairman, and CEO of NU.

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The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Thursday opened an investigation into Northeast Utilities’ plans to outsource 200 information-technology jobs.

Attorney General George Jepsen and Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz had asked PURA to look into the outsourcing’s impact on NU’s storm readiness and compliance with its agreement in order to get Connecticut officials to approve its merger with Boston-based NStar.

"As always, we look forward to working with our regulators and providing any necessary information while we strive to provide the highest-quality IT services to our customers in the most cost-effective way," NU spokeswoman Caroline Pretyman said.

In October, NU announced plans outsource half of its 400 IT employees in Connecticut and Massachusetts to companies based in India – Infosys and Tate Consulting Services. The utility parent company co-headquartered in Hartford and Boston is in the midst of buyout offer to its IT employees, after which the company may have layoffs.

NU does not have specific geographic plans on how many employees will be laid off in Connecticut and Massachusetts, but 75 percent of the 400 workers work in Connecticut.

Jepsen and Swanson Katz are concerned about the layoffs impacts on Connecticut for two reasons. The first is each NU employee in Connecticut serves double-duty during major power outages to communicate with local officials. Reductions in the Connecticut headcount will impact that communication. Second, in the merger agreement from 2012, NU agreed not to lay off a disproportionate amount of Connecticut employees, compared to Massachusetts employees.

"It's also important to note that there will be no impacts to NU’s emergency response with this transition," Pretyman said. "IT-related storm support and coverage will be built into our contracts. Suppliers perform this work for other utilities and are trained to support us in that capacity."

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