AES Thames LLC is seeking to restructure by selling its power directly into the regional electrical grid, bypassing the power and steam contracts that the company cites as contributing to its bankruptcy.

The Uncasville coal plant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allows it to restructure, in February, but is still operating. The company has a contract extending to 2015 to deliver electricity to Connecticut Light & Power, which then delivers it to consumers. The company also had a contract, now rejected by the federal court in Wilmington, Del., to sell steam to the nearby Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.

In late May, the Georgia firm RockTenn, which makes cardboard, acquired Smurfit-Stone.

AES Thames is a top-10 taxpayer in Montville and a subsidiary of the Arlington, Va.-based AES Corp. The power plant generates 181 megawatts of electricity. A megawatt serves about 1,000 average homes. The parent company, AES Corp., operates 132 diverse power generation facilities worldwide.

Pending a hearing scheduled for July 26 in Wilmington, the federal court has authorized AES Thames to use cash - "including cash in which CL&P may assert an interest" - to pursue an arrangement to sell electricity into the regional wholesale market through grid manager ISO New England, according to court documents.

In moving on June 2 for the July 26 hearing, the court found that the AES Thames "has an immediate need to obtain the use of cash in which CL&P may claim (an) interest in order to permit … the orderly continuation of the operation of its business." The court found these steps "necessary and essential" and "fair and reasonable."

Between now and then, "the companies are having conversations," said CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross Wednesday. "There is value associated with the contract between the two companies and we are attempting to pursue appropriate actions to protect that value that is owed to our customers."

AES Thames has proposed hiring a consultant, Charles River Associates of Boston, to help navigate the move to sell electricity into the wholesale grid market. CRA would help AES Thames become an exempt wholesale generator and navigate the regulatory and tariff requirements of the market, debtor attorneys wrote.

CRA reported a possible conflict of interest since one of its associates is working on behalf of Northeast Utilities' proposed merger with NSTAR, which is pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. NU is the parent company of CL&P.

Robert Stoddard, a vice president of CRA, last week informed the court that CRA "will implement an ethical screen to restrict access to case files and information in each of these matters and potential future matters" and also ensure that its employees perform work exclusively for AES Thames or CL&P, but never both.

Last month, attorneys for the debtor, Landis Rath & Cobb LLP of Wilmington, told the court three things contributed to the bankruptcy: the increased cost of energy production, the "uneconomic and onerous" provisions of the electricity purchase agreement with CL&P and the steam sale agreement with Smurfit Stone. Before being acquired by RockTenn, Smurfit Stone was running its mill on natural gas to compensate for the loss of steam, a spokesmen said then.

RockTenn spokesman John Stakel could not be reached to comment. Landis Rath & Cobb declined to comment.

p.daddona@theday.com