UNDATED (WSAU-Wheeler News) The parent company of We Energies has a new name and a much larger corporate profile this morning. The former Wisconsin Energy has completed its $9.1-billion purchase of the Integrys Energy group of Chicago. It puts We Energies of Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation of Green Bay under the same umbrella, along with gas utilities in Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan. However, all the utilities will keep their same names and identities.
Chairman Gale Klappa says the immediate plan is to be what he called “one company with seven customer-facing brands, all focused on customer satisfaction and operational excellence.” Integrys cut off its stock trading yesterday. Its shareholders will get $18.58 for each share they held before the merger was finalized. They’ll also get just over one-and-a-quarter shares of stock in the new company, known as W-E-C Energy Group.
Customers and employees should see little change, for now. W-E-C has promised not to cut its union workers in Wisconsin and Illinois — and for the next two years, the only jobs to be lost will be through retirements and other attrition.
W-E-C becomes the nation’s 15th-largest investor-owned electric and natural gas utility system — and it’s the eighth-largest gas utility.
