PUC seeks answers on sale of Oncor Electric to Hunt group

Hunt Consolidated and a group of bondholders in the Energy Future Holdings bankruptcy case were urged Thursday to provide answers to more than 75 questions before regulators vote on their planned takeover of the Oncor electricity-distribution business.

Among the issues raised by the Texas Public Utility Commission are whether the benefits of the sale exceed the costs and how customers will be affected. Regulators also want to know if safeguards need to be put in place to ensure that the new owners are able to carry the debt they will be taking on.

“You’ve got to see something that indicates that ‘yes, this structure will be sustainable,’” PUC Commissioner Ken Anderson said at a hearing in Austin, which was broadcast on the agency’s website.

Commission Chairman Donna Nelson agreed that more details are needed, although she cautioned that she doesn’t want anything to hold up Oncor parent Energy Future’s exit from bankruptcy.

Last month, a bankruptcy judge in Delaware gave EFH the green light to sign an agreement that would allow Hunt and a group of bondholders to take over Oncor Electric Delivery, its profitable electricity-distribution business, which sends power to more than 3 million Texas customers over 119,000 miles of power lines. The transaction, which would make Oncor part of a real estate investment trust, must be approved by Texas regulators as well as the judge.

Dallas-based Hunt’s businesses include oil and gas exploration and real estate. Together with a group of EFH creditors, it plans to raise more than $12 billion to pay off debt owed to another set of lenders. Should the plan win court approval after a vote by creditors, Energy Future would be split into two companies owned by different sets of lenders.

In November, the judge will consider approving the company’s overall reorganization plan, which would allow Energy Future to exit bankruptcy.

Energy Future Holdings filed for bankruptcy in April 2014, seven years after it was created with the $45 billion buyout of the former TXU Corp. The record buyout was led by investment giants KKR, TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs. At the time of its filing, the company listed liabilities of nearly $50 billion.

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 3:38 PM with the headline "PUC seeks answers on sale of Oncor Electric to Hunt group."