As with most utility mergers, there will be a consolidation of duplicate staffs and operations.

The law requires that utility mergers must promise both short- and long-term benefits to rate payers, without diminishing competition.

Analysts said that in utility mergers, the premium generally ranges from 20 percent to 50 percent.

The changes were aimed at speeding approval of utility mergers, which under the old rules often faced long delays.

Along with the nine proposed utility mergers awaiting approval, several more are expected to go before the commission.

In a possible model for opening the transmission system, in two recent cases courts or regulators have required open access as a condition of utility mergers.

THERE has been much talk in the financial community of a coming wave of utility mergers.

One lawyer who has been involved in many utility mergers recalled that although all were difficult to complete, some lived up to their promises.

Most utility mergers so far have been between companies whose service areas border or are near each other.

That would value Endesa at 37 billion euros ($47 billion), making a deal the world's largest utility merger.