An extended deadline for troubled Commerce Energy to close a deal selling most of its remaining gas and electric retail customer base to Universal Energy Group Ltd. (UEG) passed last Saturday without comment from the company.

Last month Commerce Energy, which began its operations a decade ago in California’s fledgling retail electricity market as Commonwealth Energy, announced the agreement with UEG. The original deadline to close a deal was Nov. 26, but it was later extended to Dec. 6.

Under the proposed terms, UEG would end up owning two thirds of the natural gas and electricity service provider by providing $16 million in cash and purchasing 49% of Commerce common stock. UEG would purchase Commerce’s retail gas customers in Ohio and its electricity customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Michigan. These customers represent 60,000 of Commerce’s current 100,000 customers (see Daily GPI, Nov. 17).

Commerce said previously that the extended time after Thanksgiving was supposed to “allow time for discussions between the parties to continue and for exploration of alternative structures.”

On Tuesday a Commerce spokesperson had no comment on the deal.

Even without the global credit and banking crisis, Commerce has been facing an uphill battle to turn around its fortunes, which a new senior management team, led by CEO Gregory Craig, has been attempting to do since February. The effort has included asset sales and a substantial workforce reduction of about 80 jobs, or about 31%. More recently, parent company Commerce Energy Group sold Houston-based energy consulting firm Skipping Stone, which it acquired four years ago, back to its founder.

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