Hungry Northeast utility giant Energy East said ConnecticutDepartment of Public Utility Control approved its merger withConnecticut Natural Gas parent CTG Resources yesterday. Thecompanies are awaiting Securities and Exchange Commission approvalunder the Public Utility Holding Company Act, which is expected byJune 2000. CTG shareholders overwhelmingly approved the merger onOct. 18.

On June 30, the companies announced the merger under which CTGwill become a subsidiary of Energy East. The agreement calls forEnergy East to pay $355 million and assume $220 million in CTG’slong-term debt.

Along with CTG, Energy East picked up CMP Energy for $1.2billion last April and Connecticut Energy for $617 million lastJune. While the Ithaca, NY-based company has won shareholderapproval for each merger, it still needs several regulatoryapprovals. Energy East said it expects all of the deals to becompleted by mid-year. Following completion of all three, EnergyEast will have 1.3 million electric customers and about 542,000 gascustomers. With CTG and Connecticut Energy, Energy East becomes thelargest gas distributor in the state with about 300,000 customers.

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