Today in Globe Business
Life insurer SBLI pushes to end gender-neutral pricing
The Savings Bank Life Insurance company is proud of its distinctive history. It was founded in 1907 by future Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis to provide affordable life insurance to the working masses. It’s now the largest policy writer in Massachusetts, with a growing presence nationally.
But in one aspect, SBLI wants to be a little less distinct.
In 1990, the Massachusetts Legislature prohibited SBLI from considering gender in calculating premiums, making it the only life insurer in the state — and among the few in the country— required to be gender neutral when setting rates. This puts it at a disadvantage with competitors, which can offer women lower rates because, statistically, they live longer than men, and so would pay premiums over a longer period of time.
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NEWTON — Wells Avenue is dark and quiet when a wet-haired Mike Nikitas strolls into NECN’s studios with his blazer slung over his shoulder. It’s 3:52 a.m. and he’s just beginning his workday.
For the past month, Nikitas has been waking up earlier — by half an hour — to make his 50-minute commute from Windham, N.H., to NECN where he coanchors the regional network’s new 4:30 a.m. newscast.
Over in Allston, fellow anchors at WBZ-TV (Channel 4), relate to the change in the morning shift. They’re hitting the snooze button more often, climbing out of bed earlier, and gulping extra cups of coffee to be ready for their new 4:30 a.m. newscast — a trend that is catching on in Boston and other TV markets around the country.
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AG to review deal with Cape Wind
State Attorney General Martha Coakley is requesting up to $150,000 to retain “experts and consultants’’ to help review an agreement by the utility company National Grid to buy half of the power generated by the proposed Cape Wind energy project.
Coakley, the state’s ratepayer advocate, could sway the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, which must decide whether National Grid’s contract with Cape Wind is a good deal. That question is hotly debated, even among supporters of renewable energy.
National Grid announced the $3 billion contract with Cape Wind earlier this month. Under the 15-year agreement, in 2013, the utility would buy half of the power generated by the 130-turbine wind farm at a starting price of 20.7 cents per kilowatt hour, a price well above the current rate for conventional power, with that cost increasing by 3.5 percent annually. The utility also signed a nearly identical contract for rights to the second half of Cape Wind’s power, and has agreed to sign those over to anyone wanting to buy Cape Wind power at National Grid’s price.
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State Street pressed on pay, dividend
Jay Hooley, at his first shareholder meeting yesterday as State Street Corp.’s chief executive, pledged to reinstate a stock dividend as soon as regulators allow it, and to pay more attention to risk management.
“You’ll see more and more of that embedded in this company in 2010 and beyond,’’ Hooley said of risk oversight, calling it, “near and dear to my heart.’’
Hooley took over as chief of the Boston financial services giant March 1, following a volatile 18-month period during which the company struggled with investments that lost value in the financial crisis. During that time, the company also received and paid back $2 billion in government bailout money and faced legal actions brought by regulators, customers, and investors over the steep losses.
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At DHL, executives wear employees’ hats for a day
The new delivery guy’s red and yellow, DHL Express polo shirt still had creases in the sleeves and was not as faded as the shirts worn by 70 couriers who were loading parcels into trucks early yesterday morning.
But the new courier isn’t new at all: Ian Clough, DHL’s chief executive officer for US operations, has been with the company for 18 years. Clough and nine other executives and board members from DHL’s Plantation, Fla., headquarters were in Boston yesterday, paired up with couriers for a few hours to get a firsthand taste of a typical day for a delivery driver.
The company loosely modeled the program after “Undercover Boss,’’ a reality TV show in which executives at big corporations work incognito in entry-level jobs for a week. There were a few important differences: Unlike the CBS show, there were no hidden cameras, and drivers knew ahead of time they would be riding along with the company’s top brass.
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Senate budget revives plan for state agency to buy power in bulk
A plan from Governor Deval Patrick to create an agency to buy power in bulk has been resurrected in the state Senate’s proposed budget for 2011.
State energy officials have been lobbying to get the $255.5 million Commonwealth Energy Solutions program onto the Senate budget for some months.
Several weeks ago, a budget amendment containing the proposal was rejected in the House.
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