December 25, 2005
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A company controlled by billionaire investor Warren
Buffett has struck a deal with regulators and ratepayer groups that would allow
it to take over Portland-based PacifiCorp for $9.4 billion.
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., headquartered in Des
Moines, Iowa, reached an agreement Friday to take over PacifiCorp in exchange
for up to $40 million in rate credits and a promise to keep most of the local
utility's 1,200 headquarter em-ployees in Portland.
It was quick turn of events for the proposed sale. In November, the staff of the
Oregon Public Utility Commission recommended against ap-proving the sale. At the
same time, however, the PUC staff said it might reconsider if MidAmerican would
be willing to offset the potential risks of the proposed PacifiCorp purchase by
providing rate credits to its 517,000 Oregon customers.
The agreement pledges to provide $142.5 million in
credits throughout PacifiCorp's six-state region through 2010. For Oregon, that
share will come to $39.9 million, reflecting the state's 28 percent share of the
company's power system.
Besides the rate credits for the utility's 527,400 customers in Oregon, the
agreement also includes concessions to corporate watchdog groups and to
environmentalists: The offer has a clear corporate governance structure, as
sought by watchdogs, and it pledges to draw more energy from renewable sources
over the next decade.
The agreement still needs to be vetted by the PUC, as well as the utility
regulators in the five other Western states served by PacifiCorp. The Oregon
commission has until Feb. 28 to make a decision.