Centrica Buys Energetix, NYSEG for $110 Million From Iberdrola

Centrica Plc (CNA), the U.K.’s biggest household energy supplier, agreed to buy Iberdrola USA units Energetix Inc. and NYSEG Solutions Inc. for $110 million to add customers in the U.S. Northeast.

The purchase of Energetix, with 245,000 customers in New York and Pennsylvania, will bring Centrica’s New York consumers to almost 500,000, the U.K. company said in a statement.

The Windsor-based utility, owner of the British Gas brand in the U.K., is looking to expand in the U.S. through its Direct Energy unit. The division has more than 1 million residential and small business customers in the Northeast and operates in 46 U.S. states, Washington D.C. and Canada. Centrica is also seeking to double earnings from 2009 levels in five years.

The deal “supports Direct Energy’s strategy to grow and add scale to its U.S. northeast downstream power and gas position, particularly in the New York market,” Direct Energy Chief Executive Officer Chris Weston said in the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kari Lundgren in London at klundgren2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net