Atlanta-based Southern Co. said Friday it closed on a deal to buy the Georgia customers, operations and gas inventory of Enron-affiliated NewPower Holdings Inc. for an estimated $60 million (see Daily GPI, June 13).

Southern said it sealed the transaction after the Georgia Public Service Commission gave Southern Company Gas LLC, a newly created gas marketing company, the green light Friday to enter the retail gas market in the state.

Under the deal, Southern will pay $28 million for NewPower’s Georgia customers, or $131 per customer; $32 million for the company’s Georgia natural gas inventory and accounts receivable; and an unspecified amount for the rights to use New Power’s risk management system.

Southern Company Gas will supply gas to 215,000 residential and small commercial consumers in Georgia, which account for about 15% of the market in the state, according to Southern.

The Southern marketer said it will honor the contractual terms and conditions of NewPower’s assigned fixed-rate contracts for existing customers. For new customers, it said it will offer a contract that reflects the current market conditions.

In June, NewPower Holdings and its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The companies had been under financial pressure since their majority stockholder, Enron, filed for bankruptcy last December amid disclosures that it inflated profits and hid losses in off-the-book ventures. The bankruptcy court earlier this month gave Southern Co. the go-ahead to acquire NewPower’s Georgia assets, subject to Georgia regulators certifying Southern Company Gas as a gas marketer.

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