Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE) is a holding company and wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that, along with affiliates, generates, transmits, stores, distributes and supplies energy.[3]
 | |
| Formerly | MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company (until 2014) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Headquarters | |
Key people | |
| Revenue |  $25.15 billion (2021)[1] |
 $2.331 billion (2023) | |
2,721,000,000 United States dollar (2022)  | |
Number of employees | 24,000 (2023) |
| Parent | Berkshire Hathaway |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [2][3] | |
BHE serves 5.3 million retail customers, generates 29 gigawatts of power and transports 8.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. It owns five U.S. interstate natural gas pipeline companies with 21,000 miles of operated pipeline and with a design capacity of 21 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.[3] BHE is investigating producing lithium carbonate and other minerals from its 350 MW geothermal power plants in the Lithium Valley next to the Salton Sea in California.[4]
History
editThe company was formed as a holding company for MidAmerican Energy Company. In 1999, Berkshire acquired a controlling stake.[5]
David L. Sokol was CEO until early 2008.[6] He left Berkshire in 2011 after he personally made a $3 million profit from Berkshire Hathaway's purchase of Lubrizol.[7]
In 2014, the company changed its name from MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company to Berkshire Hathaway Energy.[8]
In August 2022, Berkshire Hathaway acquired a 1% stake in the company from Greg Abel for $870 million.[9] In October 2024, Berkshire Hathaway purchased the remaining 8% stake from the family of Walter Scott Jr. following his death three years prior, bringing the company's ownership to 100%.[10]
Subsidiaries
editBerkshire Hathaway Energy owns the following companies:
- MidAmerican Energy Company
- PacifiCorp - acquired for $9.4 billion in 2005[11]
- Northern Powergrid (formerly CE Electric UK)
- CalEnergy Generation
- Kern River Gas Transmission Company and Kern River Pipeline - acquired in 2006 for $960 million.[12]
- Northern Natural Gas Company (Omaha) - acquired from Dynegy in 2002 for $928 million.[13]
- BYD Company (19.92% interest)[3]
- NV Energy - electricity and natural gas in most of Nevada
- Metalogic Inspections Services - Oil and Gas, Electricity generation, Fabrication, Pipeline, Services - acquired in 2013 for $5.4 billion.[14]
- Intelligent Energy Solutions[15] - Heat pumps, solar panels, and biomass heating systems
- AltaLink - Acquired for C$3.24 billion in 2014.[16]
In August 2017, BHE's proposed acquisition of Oncor Electric Delivery was terminated after BHE was outbid by Sempra.[17]
Environmental issues
editThrough 2023, the company has invested $34.1 billion in renewable energy projects and has ceased coal operations at 18 coal-fired power stations. The company plans to cease coal operations at 15 more stations between 2025 and 2030.[3]
References
edit- ^ "Berkshire Hathaway Energy: Operating revenue 2021".
- ^ "Berkshire Hathaway". Forbes.
- ^ a b c d e "US SEC: Form 10-K Berkshire Hathaway Inc" (PDF). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 25 February 2024.
- ^ Baker, David R. (19 November 2020). "California Wants Its Imperial Valley to Be 'Lithium Valley'". Bloomberg News.
- ^ "Berkshire Hathaway and Others Plan to Buy MidAmerican Energy". The New York Times. Bloomberg News. 26 October 1999.
- ^ FRYE, ANDREW; LIU, BETTY (24 August 2010). "Berkshire Hathaway Exec Can't Break Away". The Guardian.
- ^ Rushe, Dominic (30 April 2011). "Warren Buffett admits 'I made a big mistake' over David Sokol's purchase of Lubrizol shares". The Guardian.
- ^ "Buffett's MidAmerican Energy adopts Berkshire name". Reuters. 30 April 2014.
- ^ "Berkshire CEO-designate Abel sells stake in energy company he led for $870 million". CNBC. 6 August 2022.
- ^ "Warren Buffett Buys Rest of Berkshire Hathaway's Utilities, but Investors Must Guess at the Price". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press. 1 October 2024.
- ^ Goldstein, Steve (24 May 2005). "Berkshire Hathaway's $9.4B deal". MarketWatch.
- ^ "Kern River Pipeline being sold for $960 million". The Bakersfield Californian. 10 February 2006.
- ^ Sorkin, Andrew Ross (30 July 2002). "Berkshire to Buy a Gas Pipeline From Dynegy". The New York Times.
- ^ Sweet, Cassandra (29 May 2013). "Berkshire Unit to Buy Utility". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "The Powerhouse Six: Berkshire's most profitable non-insurance-businesses". Omaha Herald. 25 February 2017.
- ^ "Berkshire Hathaway Energy Purchases SNC-Lavalin's Equity in AltaLink" (Press release). GlobeNewswire. 1 May 2014.
- ^ "Berkshire Hathaway Energy Agreement to Acquire Oncor Terminated" (Press release). Business Wire. 21 August 2017.
