This is the second edition of people -  Power - Progress, a brief history of the proud heritage of Northeast Utilities. (The first was published in 1991, on the occasion of our silver anniversary.)

It records highlights of our industry and our corporation's life from its near-colonial beginnings. The details of our heritage provide a rich mosaic of inventiveness, determination, courage, and just plain hard work by many generations of dedicated people. But above all, they show that NU has a long and proud tradition of service excellence to its customers and communities. This publication honors the men and women who built that tradition, and it honors you who preserve it today and pass it on.

A commitment to excellence was not always explicitly stated by predecessor companies, but it was clearly apparent by their actions. Today, it is formally declared through our Corporate Mission Statement:

NU is dedicated to providing safe, dependable, and reasonably priced energy and related services as an ethical, environmentally responsible, and financially sound private enterprise committed to the efficient use of resources, responsive to the needs of customers and their communities, sensitive to the well-being of employees, and yielding a fair return to shareholders.

This commitment guides all we do and our actions must continue to reflect it. Our business as a utility company is to supply electricity, but our role as employees is to serve customers -- and to serve them superbly.

Our historic role as a monopoly provider of electric power no longer exists. Instead, NU is a regulated utility being challenged to succeed in an ever-more competitive energy marketplace. It is clear that NU will succeed as we demonstrate our indispensability to customers, not only as a supplier of electricity and energy-related products and services, but also as an effective partner who can add value to customers who are seeking to succeed in their own lives and marketplaces.

We have a fine record of service to our region, but we must strive to do more and be better. We must assure quality in every aspect of NU's operations. Service is our business -- excellence, our commitment.

Your contribution to NU's performance is critical to meeting our high standard of customer service. Not all our duties in NU are glamorous or highly visible to the public, but every one is necessary and important for the total operation of NU and to the communities we serve. You can, therefore, be proud of your role in assuring the highest quality of service to our customers. As this history of the NU system demonstrates, that is in keeping with our tradition of service excellence.