Glasgow-based electric utility ScottishPower has announced a "transition plan" for its US unit PacifiCorp, with which it merged in a $7.8 billion deal last November.
The plan contains proposals for significant organizational and operational changes and commits ScottishPower to an investment of more than $150 million in training and new technology by 2004. It is the outcome of a 5-month review of the company's business.
More than 200 initiatives or changes have been proposed as part of the plan, designed to "increase focus on [our] stakeholders," said ScottishPower. The goal is for PacifiCorp to deliver annual cost savings of $300 million in operating expenses and $250 million in capital expenditures by 2004, vs. 1998 levels.
PacifiCorp's workforce will be reduced by about 1,600 over the 5-year period, "mainly through early retirement, voluntary severance programs, and attrition," said ScottishPower. Staff reductions will occur across all business segments of the Portland, Ore.-based utility and throughout its service area, which includes Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, and California.
"PacifiCorp has a great opportunity to become a leader in the US electric business, and we're ready to begin this process by increasing our focus on customers," said Alan Richardson, PacifiCorp president and CEO. "In fact, we have already begun to deliver on our merger commitments, most notably our customer service guarantees, which we introduced in February this year. In addition, we introduced a 'green' energy product and opened four learning centers."
"The transition plan...will deliver the commitments that ScottishPower made when the merger with PacifiCorp was announced," said Chief Executive Sir Ian Robinson (OGJ, Jan. 18, 1999, p. 25). "...By 2004, our goal is to transform PacifiCorp from a company with average performance into a leading US utility, in terms of cost-efficiency and service."