Energy ‘as far as eye can see’ for Buffett

• A few months after buying Nevada’s largest electric utility, Warren Buffett sat on stage at an industry conference in Las Vegas and told the crowd he was planning to expand Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s energy business “as far as the eye can see.”

That was three years ago. On Friday, he delivered bigtime on the pledge by announcing a $9-billion all-cash offer to buy a reorganized Energy Future Holdings Corp., the parent company of Oncor Electric Delivery Co ., Texas’ s largest electricity-transmission operator.

That follows massive investments in wind power and other infrastructure in the U.S. and Canada over the past several years.

The latest deal underscores a shift that Buffett, 86, put into motion well over a decade ago at his sprawling conglomerate.

He entered the industry in 2000 when Berkshire led a group purchasing MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a Des Moines, Iowa-based utility business. That became a platform to buy interstate pipelines, power companies in the western U.S. and a transmission system in Alberta. The unit was later renamed Berkshire Hathaway Energy, highlighting its growing importance within the conglomerate. It generated $2.3 billion of profit for Buffett’s company last year.

Buying Energy Future Holdings would add to that income and provide a broader base of assets on which Berkshire can earn a return. Subsidiary Oncor runs the largest network of electric distribution and transmission lines in Texas and delivers power to more than three million homes and businesses.