CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – New Hampshire and Vermont regulators will hold emergency meetings Sunday to reconsider the sale of Verizon’s landline phone and Internet service in northern New England to North Carolina-based FairPoint Communications.

The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission approved the sale last month, saying it believes FairPoint has shown that the proposed deal is for the public good.

But when FairPoint went to the market this week to sell $550 million in bonds toward the purchase, the best interest rate the company could get was 13.5 percent, said Donald Kreis, commission general counsel. When regulators examined the sale, the anticipated interest rate was 8.5 percent, he said.

Kreis said the higher rate will cost FairPoint $17 million more a year. The bonds are 10 year bonds, he said.

“It does affect the financing significantly in our case,” Kreis said.

Kreis said the commission has no problem with loans FairPoint is acquiring for the balance of the money.

Maine, Vermont and the Federal Communications Commission have already approved the $2.35 billion deal. Maine regulators met Friday to review the terms of the bond sale, but took no action. Vermont regulators want to take another look, said Stephen Wark, a spokesman for the Vermont Public Service Department.

“The department will be watching these developments and closely analyzing the impact they could have on Fairpoint’s ability to meet its obligations in Vermont,” he said. “Our primary concern is to ensure this development does not adversely impact consumers. We’re crunching numbers right now.”

FairPoint and Verizon hope to close the deal Monday.

“We will attend the hearing on Sunday. There has been no material adverse change in FairPoint’s financial condition from the completion of the financing arrangements,” said Verizon spokeswoman Jill Wurm. “We hope to close the transaction on Monday after the hearing concludes on Sunday.”

FairPoint did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.

FairPoint and Verizon announced more than a year ago plans for FairPoint to take over Verizon’s 1.7 million phone and Internet lines in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. FairPoint now has a total of just over 300,000 lines through the 30 phone companies it owns in 18 states.

Regulators in all three states balked at the initial, $2.7 billion purchase price, questioning whether FairPoint had the resources to take over a regional communications network that would dwarf the rest of the company.

The companies retooled the deal in a way designed to reduce FairPoint’s debt.

New Hampshire regulators then approved the deal 2-1, attaching conditions such as the creation of a trust fund to cover unfunded liabilities for future retiree’s health benefits; that FairPoint, which is establishing a call center in Littleton and a data center in Manchester, can’t move or close them without asking the state’s permission; and that FairPoint has to notify the commission whenever its debt rating is downgraded.

“FairPoint has made commitments that are calculated to promote the financial health of its regulated operations in New Hampshire,” the commission said in last month’s order. “It has also made binding promises about service quality, relations with wholesale competitors, cooperation with other users of utility poles, and broadband buildout.”

FairPoint also has shown that it has the financial, managerial and technical capacity to fulfill its commitments, the commission said in the order.

Commissioner Graham Morrison dissented. He said he wasn’t persuaded FairPoint had the fiscal capacity to meet its service commitments. He said the technology plan wasn’t adequate.

FairPoint announced Monday it has reached tentative agreements with two unions representing 2,500 employees it will inherit as part of its purchase of Verizon’s landline phone and Internet service.

FairPoint said it came to terms with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America on wage and pension increases for active employees, health care benefits for active employees and retirees, and 401(k) improvements.

The agreements are subject to ratification by the unions’ membership.

Both unions had opposed the $2.35 billion purchase.

The Vermont Public Service Board will have the hearing at 2 p.m. Sunday in Montpelier. The New Hampshire PUC will meet at 3 p.m. in Concord.