The proposed sale of Narragansett Electric is on hold, after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court put a stay on the deal.
National Grid currently owns the utility, which provides electrical service to nearly all Rhode Island customers, and gas to much of the state. National Grid has been seeking to sell Narragansett Electric to Pennsylvania-based PPL Corporation for $5.3 billion.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha called the court’s order an “important development” that would allow a full review of the deal. “Trying to ram a transaction through on regulator approval alone before judicial review can happen says a lot. None of it good,” he said in a tweet.
National Grid USA is based in Massachusetts. But Massachusetts regulators last summer waived their oversight of the sale. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey opposed that decision, and asked the regulators to put a stay on the transaction. When that request was denied, her office appealed to the courts.
On Thursday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court granted the stay. The court plans to take up the case in early May.
The order put a parallel legal challenge in Rhode Island on hold.
Rhode Island regulators had approved the sale in late February. But Neronha’s office appealed to the state Superior Court, arguing that allowing the transaction to move forward could cause “extensive and irreparable harm” to energy customers.
The Rhode Island case is now paused until the Massachusetts court rules on the deal, said court spokesperson Craig Berke.
In a statement PPL said, “we remain confident the court will find that the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities correctly issued the waiver and that the transaction can move forward. In the meantime, we continue to plan for a successful outcome and completion of the Narragansett acquisition.”
–
This story has been updated.
Reporter Sofie Rudin can be reached at srudin@thepublicsradio.org.