Iberdrola could leave Energy East deal

ALBANY, N.Y., April 28 (UPI) -- Spanish firm Iberdrola threatened to walk away from Energy East Corp.

Iberdrola SA's Albany officials said the company will halt its $4.5 billion acquisition of Energy East Corp. if state regulators continue to require the sale of wind-farm assets in New York.

The New York Public Service Commission is at odds with Iberdrola over the final regulatory deal, the Times Union reported.

"We do deals that make sense," he said. "We do deals that are good for the shareholders. If we can't achieve those goals, we don't do the deals," said Pedro Azagra, Iberdrola's corporate development director.

Energy East, based in Maine, has more than 1 million customers in upstate New York through its New York State Electric & Gas and Rochester Gas & Electric subsidiaries.

The merger has received all of the shareholder and governmental approvals it needs to be completed -- except for approval from the PSC's five voting commissioners.

Iberdrola has agreed to the sale of Energy East's fossil-fuel power plants in New York and rate reductions for consumers, but it has not budged on the PSC demand to leave the wind-generation business in New York.