"Because of the stranded costs, we are not likely to see any significant savings until 2002," he said.

Environmentalists say they still have concerns about the deregulation legislation and the language on stranded costs.

"I'm convinced that with a little creative accounting, you can show stranded costs for just about anybody."

Figuring stranded costs is as much art as science.

The former permits recovery of what are called stranded costs, investments in generating plants, equipment and services not yet paid for.

The Northeast Utilities position is that the bill does not provide enough money to cover its stranded costs.

Northeast Utilities estimates total coverage of its stranded costs at $3 billion.

In reality, it was a huge source of revenue for the utilities to apply toward paying off their stranded costs.

The only alternative will be to deny a substantial amount of the stranded costs.

Another significant family of stranded costs, common in California and the Northeast, is known as "purchase power" agreements.