Eversource Chief Thomas May Paid $19 Million In 2014
By Brian Dowling March 5, 2015
Thomas J. May, the president and chief executive of Eversource Energy, made $19 million last year, the company said in regulatory filings.
It amounts to a large increase from the executive's take-home pay in 2013, when he took home $11.8 million.
The company formerly known as Northeast Utilities and now doing business as Eversource Energy also awarded May, 67, stock awards of $5.28 million, the ultimate value of which will depend on how well the company's stock performs.
May's base salary and incentive compensation, or bonus, rose slightly in 2014. But most of the sharp increase in his earnings came from stock options he exercised and stock awards that vested in the year.
Eversource Energy's stock price increased 27 percent in 2014 while the S&P 500 rose 12 percent.
The year also was marked by rising electricity prices for Connecticut and the rest of New England. The combination of a distribution rate increase and generation cost spikes pressed customers of Connecticut Light & Power with sharply higher bills as 2015 began.
Eversource released the executive compensation numbers on Tuesday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Eversource is now the name not only of Northeast Utilities but also its subsidiaries: CL&P, Yankee Gas, Western Massachusetts Electric, Public Service of New Hampshire and NSTAR Gas and Electric.
The preliminary proxy statement outlined the usual items that shareholders would vote on at the company's annual meeting in late April. But it also included a formal proposal to shareholders to approve the company name change from Northeast Utilities to Eversource Energy.
The filing explained the need for the name change: "We learned that for customers, the multitude of names that represented our business, and particularly our six operating companies, was confusing, and hindered our ability to consistently articulate who we are and what we stand for as a company."
The Hartford Courant calculates compensation as the sum of salary, bonuses, value gained on the exercise of stock options, and the vesting of stock awards, plus other forms of direct pay.
The company's proxy also listed compensation for other key company executives.
• Chief Financial Officer James, J. Judge made $2.2 million last year, plus $1.2 million in stock awards.
• Leon J. Olivier, vice president of energy enterprise strategy and business development, made $2.4 million last year, plus $1.2 million in stock awards.
• Chief Administrative Officer David R. McHale made $2.3 million last year, plus $1.2 million in stock awards.
• Chief Operating Officer Werner J. Schweiger made $5.7 million last year, plus $821,193 in stock awards.