By Tom Kleckner
Sempra Energy and Oncor said Thursday they have added three more parties to a settlement agreement covering Sempra’s proposed $9.45 billion acquisition of Energy Future Holdings, which includes the bankrupt company’s 80% ownership of Oncor.
The companies said Energy Freedom Coalition of America, Nucor Steel and Golden Spread Electric Cooperative have joined a settlement previously agreed to by six other parties in December. The settling parties have agreed that the acquisition is in the public interest, meets Texas statutory standards, and provides tangible and quantifiable benefits, Sempra and Oncor said. (See Sempra, Oncor Reach Deal with Texas Stakeholders.)
Texas Legal Services Center, a nonprofit law firm that provides free legal representation and advice to low-income persons and Medicare recipients, is the lone holdout intervenor.
The agreement includes regulatory commitments that preserve the existing Oncor ring-fence and the independence of its board of directors. It also extinguishes all debt currently held by EFH and Energy Future Intermediate Holding Co.
With the latest agreement, California-based Sempra moves another step closer to acquiring Oncor, Texas’ largest utility. The companies joined with Public Utility Commission of Texas staff on Jan. 5 to request that the PUC approve the acquisition, consistent with the governance, regulatory and operating commitments in the settlement agreement (Docket 47675).
During a brief discussion at the PUC’s open meeting Thursday, Chair DeAnn Walker told her colleagues she will be meeting with each FERC commissioner at the same time the PUC has scheduled its hearing on the merits of the deal. The PUC set the hearing for Feb. 21-23, but Walker’s FERC meetings are on Feb. 22, suggesting the PUC won’t need all three days.
“If it goes longer than half a day on the 21st, I don’t think any of us should be happy with the use of our time,” Walker said.
The PUC is expected to make a decision by early April. The EFH transaction is also subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Sempra agreed to acquire EFH last August. In September, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved EFH’s entry into the merger agreement with Sempra.
