Philadelphia Suburban Corp., the nation's largest investor-owned water utility based in the United States, has received approval from Sarasota County, Fla., regarding its acquisition of the Florida investor-owned water and wastewater systems of AquaSource, Inc., a subsidiary of DQE, Inc. The Sarasota County approval completes three approvals in Florida needed by PSC to acquire the AquaSource operation in Florida which serves approximately 21,000 customers in that state. In total, AquaSource serves 130,000 customers in 11 states.
To date, PSC has received regulatory approval in 7 of 10 states requiring regulatory approval. In total, 12 regulatory approvals are required as Florida requires approval from its utility commission as well as Sarasota and Citrus counties. Texas, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, New York and Kentucky have approved the transaction in their states and only New Jersey, Connecticut and Missouri remain.
"We are very pleased with the pace at which these very important regulatory approvals have taken place and are gratified by the expeditious manner in which the Sarasota County commissioners and their staffs worked to approve our applications," said PSC Chairman Nicholas DeBenedictis. "We began the entire regulatory approval process in October 2002 and are more than 75 percent through the regulatory process in less than six months with only three additional approvals outstanding."
When this transaction is completed, the states where AquaSource's investor-owned utilities operate will add more than 20 percent to PSC's customer base, which will be approximately 750,000 customer accounts serving 2.5 million residents in 15 states. The deal, which was originally announced in July 2002, is expected to close in mid 2003 and is contingent upon receipt of outstanding regulatory approvals.
PSC currently is the largest U.S.-based, investor-owned water utility in the country, serving approximately two million residents in six states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina and Maine.
Source: Philadelphia Suburban Corp.
