Another Utility Holding Company Says Sale of Retail Supplier Would Be Considered if Merchant Generation Divested

The AES Corporation announced that it has begun to evaluate the sale of Dayton Power & Light's generation assets to an unaffiliated third-party.

DP&L is required to separate the generation from the utility by May 2017. AES has not yet decided whether to retain the generation through a competitive affiliate, or to dispose of the generation entirely.

However, executives did confirm that the company is evaluating the potential sale of the generation to an unaffiliated third-party

Asked by an analyst whether AES would exit its competitive retail electric business if it sold the DP&L assets to an unaffiliated third party, Andres Gluski, CEO of AES, said, "I think the two go hand-in-hand, and the retail was really a way to place our generation capacity. So certainly we would look at that."

DPL Energy Resources (DPLER), including MC Squared, sells retail electricity to more than 308,000 retail customers in Ohio and Illinois. Approximately 130,000 of these customers are also distribution customers of DP&L in Ohio.

During 2013, DPLER accounted for approximately 5,874 million kWh (63%), and other competitive retail providers accounted for about 3,471 million kWh (37%) of the total 9,345 million kWh supplied by competitive retail providers within DP&L's service territory. The volume supplied by DPLER represents 42% of DP&L's total distribution volume during 2013.

During the year ended December 31, 2013, approximately 42% of customers, representing 67% of 2013's overall energy usage (kWh), within DP&L's service area had elected to obtain their supply service from competitive retail providers.