Bernhard Capital Partners Management is contemplating the purchase of Lafayette Utilities System’s electric division.
Mayor-President Joel Robideaux told The Daily Advertiser that the Baton Rouge firm is studying LUS with an eye on either buying or managing and operating the system.
Other electric utility companies have expressed an interest in the city-owned electric division, he told the newspaper.
Under a management agreement with BCP, customer rates could be frozen for some time, he said, but LUS will have to raise rates to increase production because of the growing population and to convert a coal-fired plant to natural gas.
BCP has a growing portfolio of companies in the energy services field, and expanded into electrical transmission and distribution in May when it acquired the Maryland company W.A. Chester, which specializes in that sector.
BCP officials approached Robideaux in 2017, and the company signed a due-diligence agreement. When it is completed, he says, BCP and the city will discuss what the company believes the value is and what they’re willing to pay the city to manage the LUS division. Robideaux says he’ll run the numbers from there.
Under a management agreement, Robideaux says the city would still own its electric division and electric plants. The company would be expected to give LUS a “significant” cash payment and assume some debt, he says. Â
