A FERC administrative law judge ruled that municipal utilities and commission staff failed to prove that a group of transmission owners’ base return on equity is unjust.

Eversource Energy's proposed Northern Pass transmission project won’t be operational until the first half of 2019. The company had previously said the line would be delivering Canadian hydropower to New England by 2018.

Eversource Energy (formerly Northeast Utilities) reported higher year-end earnings fueled by a strong fourth quarter and a drop in operating costs.

Northeast Utilities, which operates six electric and gas companies in three New England states, is rebranding by changing its name to Eversource Energy.

FERC agreed to change the way it calculates returns on equity rates for electric utilities but split over its first application of the new formula in a case involving New England transmission owners.