US utilities said open to foreign ownership

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. utility industry is open to foreign ownership of electric companies, given that there are appropriate safeguards in place to protect national security and customer interests, a key industry policy executive said on Tuesday.

Two high profile acquisitions of U.S. utilities by foreign concerns are pending: National Grid Plc (NG.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) of the UK's purchase of New York's KeySpan Corp. KSE.N, and the purchase by Australia's Babcock & Brown Infrastructure (BBI.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) of Montana's NorthWestern Corp. NWEC.O

"I think we have very rigorous rules and I think those rules protect the national security and make sure the financial integrity of those companies is protected," David Owens, executive vice president of the Edison Electric Institute, told the Reuters Global Energy Summit in New York.

"I think NatGrid is a great company. They're foreign owned and they have a great sensitivity to the customers in that area," Owens said.

The openness on the part of the utilities industry to foreign buyers stands in sharp contrast to other sectors, especially of late, the most notable example being the firestorm over a Dubai-based company acquiring the operator of a number of key U.S. ports.

"I don't think we're concerned," Owens said.