Here we go again! MidAmerican Offers for PacifiCorp

More unexpected utility news hit the streets just this week. We had only begun to clear our offices of the mountains of data that went into Texas Pacific’s attempted purchase of PGE (which CUB helped to foil), when we heard that a new potential deal was on the table. Warren Buffet’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. has reached an agreement with Scottish Power on an offer for PacifiCorp, Oregon’s second-largest electric utility company.

CUB’s staff attorney, Jason Eisdorfer, was quoted on the issue in the Oregonian Wednesday: “The [regulatory] process is legally robust and the participants are mature. There’s not a whole lot of naivete with regards to this stuff. We’re all well-versed.” In other words, we’re ready to go ‘round again.

We will look with interest to see what is in MidAmerican’s initial offering. However, we already have noted with concern that PUHCA, the Public Utility Holding Company Act, a 70-year-old federal law that prevents corporations from using utility ratepayers as pawns in corporate speculative ventures, is in danger of being repealed. With PUHCA repealed, nothing would deter Buffet from continuing to purchase utility companies and creating a huge mega-utility that could create a risk of catastrophic structural failure for utility customers. And it also has not escaped our attention that lobbyists for Warren Buffet are part of the charge to convince Congress to dismantle PUHCA.

So we will wait and see what his company’s offer includes, and we will address it on its merits, looking out for Oregon residential ratepayers.

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