Nisource

NiSource and Columbia Energy Group filed their merger applicationwith the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissionyesterday. Pittsburgh-based Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Inc., aColumbia subsidiary, provides retail gas service to 389,000 customersin 27 counties. Pennsylvania is the first state to be asked to approvethe merger, which was announced Feb. 28 and is expected to close bythe end of 2000 (see Daily GPI, Feb. 29). The combined company will servemore than 4.1 million customers primarily located in nine states. Itsoperations will span the high-growth energy corridor stretching fromthe Gulf of Mexico to New England, creating the largest natural gasdistributor east of the Rocky Mountains. The companies said theproposed merger will have no impact on Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania’srates, terms and conditions now approved by the Commission. However,customers are expected to benefit from the increased electriccompetition from gas-fueled distributed generation, as well aspotential gas cost savings gained through the efficient use of thecombined upstream pipeline and storage assets of the new company.

Although dwarfed by the news of the proposed NiSource-Columbiamarriage, LG&E Energy Corp. had some glad tidings of its ownlast week — it signed off on a definitive merger agreement forBritain’s PowerGen plc to acquire the Louisville, KY-baseddiversified energy company in a cash-and-debt transaction valued at$5.4 billion.

Although dwarfed by the news of the proposed NiSource-Columbiamarriage, LG&E Energy Corp. had some glad tidings of its ownyesterday — it signed off on a definitive merger agreement forBritain’s PowerGen plc to acquire the Louisville, KY-baseddiversified energy company in a cash-and-debt transaction valued at$5.4 billion.

DPL Inc. announced it has sold its financial interest in MarketHub Partners (MHP) to a subsidiary of NiSource for $29 million incash. This sale follows DPL’s recent announcement of the sale ofits natural gas retail distribution business to Indiana Energy. MHPis a natural gas storage company headquartered in Houston. DPL wasrequired to separate its electric business units with the Julypassage of Ohio electric restructuring legislation. In so doing,the company said it was going to explore options for its gasbusinesses while focusing on electric generation. DPL said it hascontinued to expand its natural gas-fired generation business withthe addition of 475 MW through two plans called “Phases One” and”Two.” Two more phases, which have yet to be announced, willincrease that capacity by 320 MW. These expansions are occurring inboth Ohio and Indiana, DPL said, and will be immediately accretiveto earnings as these units come online starting in the summer of2000.

If convergence is what’s driving the energy industry, thenNiSource Chairman Gary Neale could be a good candidate to pilot theAmerican Gas Association into the new millennium. Neale is theAGA’s new chairman, but he’s also chairman of National ElectricityReliability Council, is on the board of directors of EdisonElectric Institute and spends his spare time attempting a hostiletakeover of Columbia Energy Group.

If convergence is what’s driving the energy industry, thenNiSource Chairman Gary Neale could be a good candidate to pilot theAmerican Gas Association into the new millennium. Neale is theAGA’s new chairman, but he’s also chairman of National ElectricityReliability Council, is on the board of directors of EdisonElectric Institute and spends his spare time attempting a hostiletakeover of Columbia Energy Group.