Eversource Energy (ES) will raise its quarterly dividend by 6.1 percent to $0.5675 per share in the first quarter of 2020. This marks the 22nd consecutive year of dividend increases by the utility company.

The next payable on March 31, 2020, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 4, 2020. A new annual dividend rate of $2.27 per share yields 2.5% at a stock price of $90.58.

“Eversource Energy and its employees completed a very strong 2019, providing customers with top tier service reliability, advancing our region’s clean energy initiatives, and stepping up when natural disasters interrupt our customers’ lives, such as during last summer’s tornadoes on Cape Cod,” said Jim Judge, Eversource Energy chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We are pleased we can share the benefits of our operational and financial success with our investors.” (source: company press release).

Eversource Energy, formerly Northeast Utilities, is a utility holding company engaged in the energy delivery business. Eversource operates operates through three segments: electric distribution, electric transmission and natural gas distribution. Eversource Energy operates New England’s largest energy delivery company with approximately 4 million electric, natural gas and water customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The company has paid a dividend every every year since 1966, at the time operating as Northeast Utilities.