Iowa-based MidAmerican Holdings, which obtained PacifiCorp from Britain’s Scottish Power, will gain 1.6 million customers in six states throughout the west as well as a number of power plants. It will also add some $US10 billion in revenue annually and boost generating capacity to more than 16000 MW.

However, neither employees nor consumers will likely feel the transition, said the utility’s president, Judi Johansen. “We will continue to operate PacifiCorp as a stand-alone entity. We will maintain our local operations and local presence, which is important for our states and communities.”

The motivation for the deal, MidAmerican stated, was not about cost savings, but rather to provide stable ownership, access to capital and long-term planning that low-population states such as these need to maintain reliability. “This is not a transaction that has anything to do with employee or operating synergies,” said MidAmerican chairman David Sokol.

Sokol also said MidAmerican is more capable of investing capital for Oregon-based PacifiCorp’s generation projects because they are not publicly traded. Johansen concurred that MidAmerican’s demonstrated commitment to PacifiCorp’s long-term investment success is pleasing to the utility.

While MidAmerican waits to complete the purchase of PacifiCorp in 2006 after SEC and regulatory approvals, Buffet has indicated that he wants to make even more energy purchases, according to the Associate Press. “The energy sector has long interested us, and this is the right fit,” and said he hopes to buy more assets worldwide in the next decade.