Energies

New Century Energies and Northern States Power said they havefiled, or are expected to file later this week, merger applicationswith state regulators in Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota, Texas, NewMexico, Kansas and North Dakota and with FERC. Other filings withadditional state and federal regulators will follow. NCE and NSPshareholders approved the merger on June 28. The proposedcombination, to be called Xcel Energy, will serve three millionelectricity customers and 1.5 million natural gas customers in 12states.

Shareholders of New Century Energies and Northern States PowerCo. approved the merger of the two companies yesterday. The newcompany will be named Xcel Energy Inc. At separate specialshareholder meetings held today in Denver and Minneapolis, morethan 83% of the voting shares of both NCE and NSP voted in favor ofthe merger. “This transaction will be accretive immediately, willprovide a balanced platform for growth, and will provide NCE andNSP customers with continued low-cost, reliable energy,” said NCEPresident Wayne Brunetti, who will become CEO of Xcel Energy. NCEsaid 93% of its shareholders representing 78% of its overall sharesapproved the deal, and 83% of NSP’s shareholders representing 62%of its shares okayed the transaction. The merger, announced onMarch 25, still requires state and federal regulatory approval. Theapproval process is expected to be completed in nine to 15 months.Under terms of the merger agreement, holders of NCE stock willreceive 1.55 shares of stock in Xcel Energy for each of their NCEshares. Each share of NSP stock will become one share of XcelEnergy.

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.

Boston Edison issued a request for proposals (RFP) seeking bidsfor about 2,000 MW of electricity to replace power now supplied bySithe Energies from plants Sithe recently bought from BostonEdison. The short-term power purchase agreement with Sithe expiresNov. 30. The power purchased through this competitive biddingprocess, combined with power from the Pilgrim nuclear plant andother power supply contracts, will be used to meet Edison’s needsDec. 1 through May 31, 1999. Proposals must be submitted by Aug. 3.