Puget Sound Energy (PSE) late Monday said it had reached a settlement with parties that stood in the way of the acquisition of the Bellevue, WA-based utility by a group of private investors. The state of Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) must review the settlement. and other factors before deciding on the merger.

The utility will file a settlement stipulation with the WUTC Tuesday or Wednesday outlining the provisions of the deal, PSE said. The proponents will request that state regulators suspend the ongoing merger proceeding to hold a separate proceeding on the new settlement. PSE’s holding company, Puget Energy, and the investor consortium’s holding company, Puget Holdings LLC, said they had reached a settlement “to resolve all issues with several of the parties” involved in the merger proceeding at the WUTC.

PSE said the settlement includes WUTC staff, the Industrial Customers of Northwest Utilities, Northwest Industrial Gas Users, the Energy Project, the Northwest Energy Coalition and the Kroger Co. In addition, the Cogeneration Coalition has indicated it won’t oppose the deal, the utility said.

“The parties have notified the administrative law judge at the WUTC via letter,” PSE said. “In the settlement stipulation, the parties intend to request that the WUTC suspend the current procedural schedule and set a prehearing conference as soon as possible to determine a schedule for hearing the settlement.” Under the current proceedings, the WUTC was expected to make a decision by September.

PSE earlier in July filed with the state regulatory commission to commit to 10 years of benefits totaling $100 million for PSE utility customers from a proposed merger with the private consortium led by Australia-based Macquarie Capital Group and including Australian and Canadian investors.

PSE and its prospective suitors have an ongoing case at the WUTC reviewing the proposed $7.4 billion deal to take the utility private. The utility and its proposed new backers said they made the filing to “correct inaccuracies” that might have been created by some of the intervenors in the case, along with further outlining what they see as the immediate customer benefits of the merger, which include substantial infrastructure investment.

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