U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi gave approval in his Delaware courtroom this past Friday, August 26 for Energy Futures Holdings to reorganize from the biggest bankruptcy in US history since GM in 2009.
TXU retail energy business and Luminant, Texas’ largest power plant operator, will be spun-off tax-free under the subsidiary Texas Competitive Electric Holdings Company (TCEH) as separate businesses. Their new names have yet to be named. Energy Future Holdings, meanwhile, will reorganize around the rest of its assets to emerge separately.
ONCOR, the transmission and distribution operation, is up for grabs with Florida-based NextEra leading the pack with an $18 billion offer.
A spokesman for Energy Holdings said, “We are entering an exciting time in our company’s evolution…”
Just how exciting this will be for Texas electricity consumers remains to be seen. Energy Future Holdings declared bankruptcy in 2014 with $42 billion in debt when it couldn’t turn a profit in the deregulated Texas energy market.