Vistra cutting 300 jobs locally

The power company Vistra Energy Corp., the parent company of TXU Energy, is cutting more that 300 jobs in Houston after recently completing its acquisition of Dynegy of Houston.

Vistra, of Irving, notified the state of the layoffs about two days after the deal closed on April 9. The merger, which was initially announced in October, created the state’s largest power producer and one of the nation’s biggest generators of electricity.

The layoffs were expected since Vistra said it would close Dynegy’s Houston headquarters once the merger was completed. Houston employees were offered the opportunity to relocate to North Texas, but many declined, Vistra Energy spokeswoman Meranda Cohn said. Departing employees will receive severance pay and help finding new jobs, she added.

Stockholders of Vistra and Dynegy approved the all-stock deal valued at about $1.75 billion in March. The merger created a $10 billion company, combining Vistra’s integrated retail electricity suppliers in Texas with Dynegy’s power plants in Texas, the Midwest and the Northeast.

The merger was a product of the recent struggles in the merchant power industry, which has had to contend with low electricity prices, increased competition from renewable sources such as wind and solar and higher regulatory costs. Shortly before Vistra and Dynegy announced the merger, Houston’s Calpine was sold to a group of investors led by a New Jersey private equity firm, and NRG, also of Houston, launched an initiative to divest up $4 billion in assets.

The bigger Vistra now owns more than 40 gigawatts of power production, with 60 percent from natural gas-fired plants. The remainder comes from coal, nuclear and solar power.