Berkshire Hathaway Energy Explained

Berkshire Hathaway Energy
Type:	Subsidiary
Revenue:	$25.15 billion (2021)^[1]
Operating Income:	$4.25 billion (2012)^[2]
Net Income:	$2.57 billion (2012)
Owner:	Berkshire Hathaway (92%) Walter Scott Jr. family (8%)
Location Country:	Des Moines, Iowa
Parent:	Berkshire Hathaway

Berkshire Hathaway Energy (previously known as MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company until 2014) is a holding company and subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns 92% of the company. Berkshire has owned a controlling stake since 1999.^[3] The company also controls power distribution companies in the United Kingdom and Canada. The remaining 8% is owned by the family of Walter Scott Jr.^[4]

Greg Abel is chairman; Scott W. Thon is president and CEO. David L. Sokol was CEO until 2008.

Until 2014, it was known as MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company from its root as MidAmerican Energy Company; it took on the name of its parent to reflect the diversity of its portfolio.^[5]

As of 2019, BHE "serves 4.9 million retail customers, generates 29 gigawatts of power and transports 8.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day over 16,400 miles of regulated pipeline."^[6]

In 2023, a jury ordered BHE subsidiary PacifiCorp to pay $70 million in punitive damages to 17 homeowners negatively impacted by wildfires that afflicted Oregon in 2020.^[7]

Subsidiaries & investments

Berkshire Hathaway Energy owns the following companies:

• MidAmerican Energy Company
• MidAmerican Renewables^[8] (Renewable Energy/Wind Energy)
• PacifiCorp, purchased for $9.4 billion in 2005^[9]
• Northern Powergrid (formerly CE Electric UK)
  • Integrated Utility Services UK
• CalEnergy Generation
  • Imperial Valley Geothermal Project
• Kern River Gas Transmission Company^[10]
  • Kern River Pipeline
• Northern Natural Gas Company (Omaha)^[11]
• BYD Company (19.92% of outstanding shares)^[12]
• NV Energy (electricity and natural gas in most of Nevada)
• Metalogic Inspections Services^[13] (Oil and Gas, Power Generation, Fabrication, Pipeline, Services)
• Intelligent Energy Solutions^[14] (Heat Pumps, Solar Panels, and Biomass Boilers)
• AltaLink (Electric Utility in Canada) for C$3.24 billion in 2014 ^[15]

In 2017, BHE's proposed acquisition of Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC^[16] was terminated after BHE was outbid by Sempra.^{[17] [18]} BHE investigates producing up to 90 thousand tonnes of lithium carbonate per year (and other minerals) from its 350 MW geothermal power plants in the Lithium Valley next to the Salton Sea in California.^{[19] [20]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Berkshire Hathaway Energy: Operating revenue 2021 .
2. Web site: Financial filing . 2012 . www.berkshirehathawayenergyco.com . 7 July 2017 . 15 December 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171215054710/http://www.berkshirehathawayenergyco.com/assets/upload/financial-filing/BHE%2012.31.16%20Form%2010-K_FINAL.pdf . dead .
3. News: Berkshire Hathaway and Others Plan to Buy MidAmerican Energy. Bloomberg. News. The New York Times . 26 October 1999. NYTimes.com.
4. Web site: Berkshire CEO-designate Abel sells stake in energy company he led for $870 million . . 6 August 2022 .
5. News: Buffett's MidAmerican Energy adopts Berkshire name. 30 April 2014. Reuters.
6. Web site: Conrad. Roger. Berkshire Utilities' Next Big Utility Bite. 2020-08-19. Forbes. en.
7. Web site: 2023-06-14 . Oregon jury: PacifiCorp must pay punitive damages for fires, plus award that could reach billions . 2023-06-17 . AP NEWS . en.
8. Web site: Wind Energy. midamericanenergy.com. en-us. 2017-06-30. 1 December 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040318/https://midamericanenergy.com/our-renewable-energy-vision.aspx. dead.
9. Web site: Berkshire Hathaway's $9.4B deal. Steve. Goldstein.
10. Web site: Kern River Gas Transmission Company : Berkshire Hathaway Energy. www.berkshirehathawayenergyco.com . en-us. 2017-06-30.
11. Web site: Northern Natural Gas. www.northernnaturalgas.com . en-us. 2017-07-07.
12. Web site: 2022-03-24 . Berkshire Hathaway Annual Letter to Shareholders .
13. Web site: Home - Metalogic Inspection Services. Metalogic Inspection Services. en-US. 2017-06-30.
14. Web site: Consultancy, Servicing, Maintenance and Fault Finding Heat Pumps, Solar Panels & Biomass Boilers - Intelligent Energy Solutions. www.intelligentenergysolutions.com . 2017-06-30.
15. Web site: Berkshire Hathaway Energy Purchases SNC-Lavalin's Equity in AltaLink . Marketwired.com . 2014-05-01 . 2018-08-22.
16. Web site: Berkshire Hathaway Energy to buy Oncor. CNBC. . 2017-07-07. 2017-07-07.
17. Web site: Sempra's Purchase of Oncor Approved by FERC. www.power-eng.com.
18. Web site: Berkshire Hathaway Energy Agreement to Acquire Oncor Terminated. Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Inc.. 18 May 2018.
19. Web site: Besseling . Eric . Lithium Recovery from Geothermal Brine - 17-GRDA-01 . BHE Renewables . 5 . November 15, 2018.
20. News: Baker. David R.. 2020-11-19. California Wants Its Imperial Valley to Be 'Lithium Valley'. en. Bloomberg Business. 2020-11-19.