On the same day it was filed, the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Wednesday rejected a request by New Haven utility parent UIL Holdings for more time to prove the value of its $3 billion acquisition by Spain energy giant Iberdrola.
The request came a day after PURA preliminarily rejected the acquisition, saying it offered no obvious benefits to ratepayers and showed no concrete evidence Iberdrola would run the company in an effective manner. In Connecticut UIL is the parent company for electric utility United Illuminating and natural gas utilities Southern Connecticut Gas and Connecticut Natural Gas.
UIL and Iberdrola have until July 17 when PURA renders its final decision to change the regulators minds. The two had requested a two-month extension to make its case, but PURA rejected that motion, saying it would amount to a whole new rate case.
PURA offered UIL and Iberdrola the opportunity to submit a whole new case but that would be subject to a 120-day waiting period. The companies had hoped to complete the acquisition by the end of the year.
