The Maine Public Utilities Commission has approved the proposed sale of most generating assets and certain transmission rights belonging to the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company to PP&L Global of Fairfax, Virginia.
PP&L Global has formed a subsidiary, Penobscot Hydro LLC, that will actually own the assets. Bangor Hydro signed an agreement to sell most of its generating assets in September of 1998 and filed its application for approval of the sale in October 1998.
Under the agreement approved by the Commission, Bangor Hydro will be selling its hydroelectric stations, its 52MW interest in the William F Wyman 4 generating station in Yarmouth, and certain transmission rights which enable it to import power from Canada.
In addition, under a separate agreement also approved by the Commission, Penobscot Hydro will be selling the output of the hydroelectric stations to Bangor Hydro until March 2000, at which time Maine’s new electric restructuring law, signed last year, will come into operation. The restructuring law was also the trigger for the sale, since it requires all Maine utilities to divest their generating assets prior to the beginning of retail access.
PP&L Global has investments and commitments totalling more than US$2.3B. In addition to the acquisition of the Maine power plants and 13 Montana power plants, PP&L Global is also developing power plants near Kingman, Arizona, in Wallingford, Connecticut, and in eastern Pennsylvania, with a combined generating capacity of more than 1500MW.
The company, which was formed by PP&L Resources in 1995, also has ownership and operational interests in distribution companies in the UK and Chile that deliver electricity to more than 2M customers. Additionally, PP&L Global has investments in El Salvador, Argentina, Peru, Spain, Portugal, Bolivia and Brazil.
