Industry news

Area Development Site and Facility Planning, Jul 2000

CONTINUING announcements of mergers and acquisitions among utility companies include the following:

The Southern Co., the largest electricity producer in the nation, will buy four power plants from the Potomac Electric Power Co., which has abandoned power production. The plants - three in Maryland and one in Virginia - have the capacity to produce 5,154 megawatts of electricity, enough to light more than five million homes.

Peco Energy, the owner of Philadelphia's electric utility, has bought four power industry contractors that employ 1,300 people and have a projected combined annual revenue of $125 million. The companies are Dashiell Corp. of Deer Park, Texas; Dacon Corp. of Lake Charles, La.; Michigan Trenching Service of Ypsilanti, Mich.; and VSi Group of Columbia, Md. Moreover, Peco is merging with Unicorn, the parent company of Chicago's Commonwealth Edison.