Tom May said he was an agnostic about Cape Wind before NStar and Northeast Utilities announced their planned combination nearly 18 months ago and little has changed now that he is the CEO of the unified company, which committed to buy nearly a third of the wind project’s power output  to win approval for the merger.

In a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, May, the former CEO of Boston-based NStar and now the head of the new Northeast Utilities, said he recognizes that state renewable energy goals require the development of green energy from a variety of sources, including large-scale projects such as Cape Wind in Nantucket Sound. But he declined to say whether he felt power from Cape Wind, priced well above current market rates, represented a good deal for ratepayers.

“We don’t feel any different today than we did beforehand,” he said.

The company’s purchase of 27.5 percent of Cape Wind’s power output was included as part of a privately negotiated settlement with the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick that paved the way for the merger. A separate private settlement negotiated by Attorney General Martha Coakley requires the company to freeze its distribution rates for four years and pay a $21 million rebate to customers.

May declined to discuss the private settlement talks, saying confidentiality agreements apply. “How you make the sausages is not what we talk about,” he said. “It’s the final product.”

May, who will split his time running the company between dual headquarters in Boston and Hartford, said he was confident Northeast and NStar would have won approval for the merger from regulators in Massachusetts and Connecticut without the settlement agreement. He said he agreed to the settlement because he was uncertain what conditions would have been attached by regulators. “The fear of the unknown, if you will, is what we avoided,” he said.

May said the merger will create a company with six regulated gas and electric distribution companies in three states (NStar Electric & Gas and  Western Massachusetts Electric in Massachusetts) with 9,000 employees and 3.5 million customers. He estimated the combined company will achieve at least $780 million in savings over the next 10 years as efficiencies are realized and duplicative positions eliminated.  He said those savings will be shared with customers.

Northeast Utilities is moving ahead with its Northern Pass project to bring Canadian hydroelectric power from Canada down through New Hampshire to markets in central New England. He said the relatively cheap hydro power doesn’t require the type of ratepayer subsidies other forms of green energy receive, but he said he believes the electricity should count toward meeting the region’s renewable energy goals. Currently, large-scale hydro power does not count in Massachusetts, although legislation passed by the state Senate last week took a tentative step in that direction.  (Some environmentalists oppose using large-scale hydro to meet renewable energy targets for fear it will crowd out other, more expensive renewable energy technologies.)

“Everything should be considered and this project should be considered,” May said.

May earned $9.18 million last year running NStar, up from $7.9 million the year before. His compensation package included $1.1 million in salary, $3.5 million in stock awards, $2 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, $2.5 million in pension and deferred compensation, and $68,000 in other earnings, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.