Ascendant Group Ltd is looking for a buyer among a select group of companies.

Who those prospective new owners are and how many they number, Ascendant has declined to say.

However, names of potential acquirers have surfaced from a source who spoke to The Royal Gazette and also via a report by broadcaster ZBM, who cited a source inside Ascendant.

Among them are US-based Twenty First Century Utilities, Australian investment bank Macquarie Group and Canadian utilities group Fortis.

The potential takeover comes at a pivotal time for the future of the Bermuda electricity sector.

The Integrated Resource Plan, a blueprint designed to meet the island’s energy needs for the next 20 years, is close to completion.

The IRP proposal submitted by Belco as the sole transmission, distribution and retail licensee, favoured natural gas as the principal generation fuel with a growing proportion of renewables.

A public consultation overseen by the Regulatory Authority produced eight alternative IRP proposals, with a common theme of renewable energy playing a greater role. Public support was greatest for BE Solar’s plan, whose centrepiece was an offshore wind farm.

After the public consultation, the RA suggested changes to the IRP to Belco on January 25 and Belco is due to submit a revised IRP this month, which will in turn be analysed by the RA before the final IRP’s publication on June 30.

Against this backdrop, who ends up owning Belco is of great importance to the island.

Of the three companies reported to be interested, Washington, DC-based TFC Utilities is probably the most familiar to readers, after its attempt to acquire Ascendant with a $15-per-share bid a year ago.

Two months ago, Joe Garcia, a spokesman for TFC, confirmed to The Royal Gazette that the company was still interested.

After TFC’s bid for Ascendant was turned down last year, Mr Garcia, a former US congressman who has served on America’s National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, said the firm’s approach was based on investing in energy efficiency and renewables, creating a decentralised grid that was shaped by the preferences of customers.

On its website, TFC states: “We transform regulated utilities with a 21st-century model that drives mass adoption of clean, low cost energy producing and energy saving technologies, while optimising the grid.”

Another of those involved with TFC’s bid was Dennis Lister, a strong advocate for green energy and the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

TFC also has financial backing from Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based investment house with more than $42 billion of assets under management, as of September 30 last year.

Fortress is also manager and general partner of the Bermuda Infrastructure Fund, an entity set up in November 2017 with the target of raising $100 million from Bermudian-based insurance companies to fund island infrastructure projects.

Macquarie Group, the Australian investment bank, has large energy and infrastructure interests in Australia and around the world. It is the second largest physical natural gas trader in the US and also has a growing interest in green energy.

For example, in 2015, Macquarie Group acquired a stake in Baltic 2 offshore wind park from German electricity supplier EnBW for €720 million. Macquarie also bought Britain’s Green Investment Bank for £2.3 billion.

On the group’s website, Anthony Felton, portfolio manager for Macquarie Investment Management’s global listed infrastructure team, says: “Renewables are two-thirds of the way towards solving the energy trilemma, being affordable and clean. The third objective, reliability, is still a work in progress.”

Macquarie says it expects large-scale storage system solutions to become sophisticated enough to “manage the intermittency of renewables generation”.

“This has sparked a new wave of innovation in the sector which will revolutionise the global power market and allow consumers to shift from being passive to active participants in their energy networks,” Macquarie adds.

Fortis, another of those thought to be interested in acquiring Ascendant, has grown out of its roots in Newfoundland, Canada, to become one of the top 15 utility companies in North America with 3.3 million customers and $53 billion in assets.

It owns several utilities in Canada and the US, as well as two in the Caribbean: FortisTCI in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Caribbean Utilities Company in the Cayman Islands. It also owns a one-third stake in Belize Electricity Ltd in Central America.

Cayman utility CUC’s website said it relies on diesel-fuelled generators to supply the islands. Its shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and it has a market capitalisation of about $485 million.

Fortis makes no secret of its acquisitive ambitions, saying on the homepage of its website that “we seek additional opportunities to diversify our asset base and grow our company both within our existing franchise territories and beyond”.

FortisTCI has options for customers to benefit from producing solar energy for the grid. Its “customer-owned” programme gives residential and commercial customers a credit on their monthly bill equivalent to the avoided cost of generation. The “utility-owned” programme involves the customer leasing out roof space to FortisTCI. The utility owns the solar panels and the customer receives a credit on their monthly bill for use of the rooftop space.

The political element will inevitably be a factor in the sale. Walter Roban, the Minister of Home Affairs, speaking in the House of Assembly last month, spoke about “policy directions” he is giving to the Regulatory Authority relating to the sale of Belco.

These include ensuring the “adequacy, safety, sustainability and reliability of electricity supply in Bermuda”, encouraging energy conservation, promoting cleaner energy sources including renewables, protecting the interests of customers and allowing others with “non-discriminatory interconnection” to the grid.

The new owners would be required to adhere to the IRP.

Mr Roban added: “While the IRP is being developed by the Regulatory Authority and not this Government, we can state quite emphatically that we look forward to more renewable energy, for example, solar energy which is abundantly available in Bermuda.”

A marginal improvement to the status quo “will not be acceptable to this Government, nor can it be acceptable to our people,” Mr Roban added.

“We will look forward to in whatever form, a better electric utility that shares the government’s vision of increased adoption of renewables, a fairer electric utility, all for a better and fairer Bermuda.”

Whether or not Ascendant’s board accepts one of the offers, Bermuda’s electricity sector is sure to see some fundamental changes in the coming years.