CMP sale to FPL clears another regulatory hurdle

AUGUSTA — Central Maine Power Co.’s sale of its generating plants to a Florida-based utility firm has cleared another regulatory hurdle, CMP said Monday.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the transfer of licenses of CMP’s hydroelectric properties to FPL Energy Maine Hydro, a subsidiary of FPL Group. The transaction itself has already met FERC approval.

The federal agency’s order says the transfers are consistent with its regulations and in the public interest. FERC must still approve FPL as an exempt wholesale generator in order for the deal to be finalized.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission in November voted unanimously to approve CMP’s sale of its non-nuclear power plants to FPL Group for $846 million.

Still holding up the transfer is FPL’s unresolved suit in U.S. District Court in New York that seeks to pull the plug on the deal.

The Florida company says the Maine plants’ value dropped after FERC changed its rules governing how power plants connect to the New England electric power grid, known as NEPOOL.

“While FPL Energy has asked a federal court to excuse it from going forward based on FERC orders in unrelated matters dating from last October, it is apparent that FERC itself sees no obstacles to this sale,” CMP Group President David Flanagan said Monday in a prepared statement.

As part of the deregulation of the electric utility industry, a Maine law that took effect in 1997 requires utilities to sell their generating assets by March 2000. The CMP-FPL deal was announced last January.