What's going on: Despite rumors, National Grid says it has no plans to sell

Utility is battling with state regulators to raise electric rates.

David Lassman / The Post-Standard, 2009The Spirit of Light sculpture adorns the front of National Grid's Syracuse office.

From the Albany Times Union:

National Grid says it has no plans to sell its U.S. operations, despite analyst and media reports speculating it could happen if the British utility operator isn't able to raise rates in New York and New England.

National Grid, which entered the upstate market in 2002 when it purchased Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. of Syracuse, is in the middle of a heated battle with state regulators over a request to raise electric rates by nearly $370 million.

Regulators want to lower rates instead by $14 million, and the two sides have been holding confidential settlement discussions at National Grid's regional headquarters in Albany over the past two weeks to try to iron out their differences.

But rumors of a possible sale have been getting louder after National Grid raised $5 billion several months ago by issuing new stock to pay for massive amounts of infrastructure improvements required in the United Kingdom.

» Read a British story that reports rumors of a selloff: Shock rights issue for National Grid [Daily Mail]