2 power giants spin off into TCEH

Luminant, Texas’ biggest power producer, and retail electricity giant TXU Energy emerged from bankruptcy last week after more than twoyears.

The companies’ former parent company, Energy Future Holdings, remains in bankruptcy until it completes the sale of Oncor, a regulated utility and power transmission company. Next Era Energy, a Florida power company, has agreed to pay $19 billion to buy Oncor, which delivers electricity to 3 million customers, primarily in the Dallas area.

The deal has been approved by the bankruptcy court, but has yet to be finalized, pending regulatory approval and other details.

Luminant and TXU were spun off into TCEH Corp., an acronym for Texas Competitive Electric Holdings, which will be led by longtime energy executive Curtis Morgan. He takes over as TCEH chief executive after serving as an adviser during the bankruptcy proceedings.

“TCEH Corp. emerges from the restructuring process with a superb integrated business” that is well positioned to take advantage of a growing Texas market, Morgan said in a statement.

TXU Energy sells electricity to about 1.7 million residential and business customers. Luminant’s plants have the capacity to generate 17,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 3.4 million Texas homes on the hottest days.

The future shape of Texas’ power grid will partly be determined by how Luminant, which owns the most coal-fired power plants in the state, deals with increasing economic and environmental challenges to coal. Coal plants have closed across the country as they struggle to compete with cheaper and cleaner natural gas plants and emissionsfree wind and solar power, for which prices are falling rapidly.

They also face increasing environmental regulations as governments seek to limit greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming. Coal produces more greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, than other fossil fuels, such as natural gas.