The merger of New Century Energies and Northern States Powerappears to be moving faster than expected. The companies announcedplans yesterday to hold their special shareholder meetings toapprove the merger in late June rather than in September. Theproposed merger requires shareholder approval as well as approvalor regulatory review by various federal and state agencies. Whencompleted the merged company will serve 3 million electricitycustomers and 1.5 million natural gas customers in 12 U.S. states.

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