About 250 jobs will be cut through voluntary retirement and attrition, under the proposed merger of New England Electric System and Eastern Utilities Associates. NEES plans to buy EUA for $634 million. Cuts will come from both companies.
NEES is one of the region’s largest utilities. Its subsidiary Narragansett Electric Co. serves about 325,000 Rhode Island customers. EUA owns both Blackstone Valley Electric Co. and Newport Electric Corp., which serve almost 120,000 Rhode Islanders.
On Dec. 14 NEES announced it would merge with the English company, National Grid Group plc, which is the world’s largest independent transmission company.
The mergers are part of a trend in the restructured electricity industry. Since utilities had to divest ownership in power plants – which is traditionally where utilities made money – consolidation has been viewed as the best way to continue making a profit.
