Eversource gave its CEO a pay raise last year, but froze it due to ‘hardships’ of customers during the pandemic and Tropical Storm Isaias; total compensation was $14.6 million

Eversource Energy boosted its chief executive officer’s pay by 4% last year, to $1.37 million, but the Boston-based utility froze his and other executives’ 2020 salaries “in recognition of the hardships” faced by customers and communities due to COVID-19 and Tropical Storm Isaias, according to a regulatory filing Friday.

Eversource cut the cash bonus for CEO James Judge to $2.75 million from $3 million in 2019, but said it reflected his performance that was still far above targets used to determine compensation.

Including stock awards of $6.7 million and $3.7 million in calculated pension value, Judge’s total compensation in 2020 was $14.6 million.

Eversource cited his “superior leadership” of a high-performing company, including his “continued emphasis on the importance of both protecting the planet and pushing for racial and social justice while ensuring a focus on the safety of our employees and the public from the very beginning of the pandemic, which he continues to do to this day.”

Eversource also cited its “excellent financial, operational and strategic results in 2020u2033 in awarding incentive grants and awards.

The utility posted a nearly one-third increase in profit in 2020 despite a significant number of storms. Net income of $1.2 billion was up from $909 million in 2019. Revenue climbed 4.4%, to $8.9 billion

Despite the company’s strong performance, Eversource said it would freeze base salaries of senior executives at 2020 levels “in recognition of the hardships experienced by our customers and communities resulting from COVID-19 and the effects of Storm Isaias.”

Judge told state lawmakers last August he expected his compensation to be “dramatically less” because the utility’s “performance hasn’t been as stellar,” anxiety is high among customers due to the coronavirus pandemic and the “outrage we’re hearing in Connecticut” about the higher electricity rates and storm restoration.

Judge was criticized by some Connecticut lawmakers and others for not being visible after the storm. Craig Hallstrom, president of regional electric operations, was the public face of Eversource in the aftermath of the storm.

Connecticut regulators faulted Eversource’s handling of Tropical Storm Isaias. The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority said in a report released March 19 the utility did not adequately prepare for the Aug. 4 storm that knocked out power to about 800,000 customers for days.

The agency also criticized Eversource for “communications systems failures” and said it fell short in coordination and communications with the towns.

Eversource said in its filing that “as a result of Tropical Storm Isaias, which caused extensive, catastrophic damage to our Connecticut distribution system and many prolonged outages, our customers and our government leaders felt that our performance fell short of their expectations.”

Recognizing “this sentiment,” Eversource said it did not attribute any performance percentage value to the customer goals in its overall assessment because the goal was assessed at “zero percent.”

Among its accomplishments, Eversource said it restored service “following a substantial number of storms in a safe and effective manner,” established a voluntary moratorium on customer shutoffs for nonpayment during the coronavirus pandemic and “offered broad payment and arrearage forgiveness plans to provide assistance” to relieve economic pressure felt by customers.

Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com.

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