Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE) is a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

and wholly-owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of c ...

that, along with affiliates, generates, transmits, stores, distributes and supplies energy. BHE serves 5.3 million retail customers, generates 29 gigawatts of power and transports 8.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. It owns five U.S. interstate natural gas pipeline companies with 21,000 miles of operated pipeline and with a design capacity of 21 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. BHE is investigating producing

lithium carbonate Lithium carbonate is an inorganic compound, the lithium salt of carbonic acid with the chemical formula, formula . This white Salt (chemistry), salt is widely used in processing metal oxides. It is on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, Wor ...

and other minerals from its 350 MW

geothermal power Geothermal power is electricity generation, electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation i ...

plants in the

Lithium Valley Lithium Valley is an area adjacent to the Salton Sea in Southern California, United States, with enormous deposits of lithium. Due to increased demand for lithium, which is a crucial component for batteries used for electric cars and energy stor ...

next to the Salton Sea in California.

History

The company was formed as a holding company for

MidAmerican Energy Company MidAmerican Energy Company is an energy company based in Des Moines, Iowa. Its service area includes almost two-thirds of Iowa, as well as portions of Illinois, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Its territory is wholly encompassed by the territory of ...

. In 1999, Berkshire acquired a controlling stake. David L. Sokol was CEO until early 2008. He left Berkshire in 2011 after he personally made a $3 million profit from Berkshire Hathaway's purchase of

Lubrizol Lubrizol Corporation is an American provider of specialty chemicals for the transportation, industrial and consumer markets. These products include additives for engine oils and other transportation-related fluids, additives for industrial lubr ...

. In 2014, the company changed its name from MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company to Berkshire Hathaway Energy. In August 2022, Berkshire Hathaway acquired a 1% stake in the company from

Greg Abel Gregory Edward Abel (born June 1, 1962) is a Canadian businessman, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and vice-chairman of non-insurance operations of Berkshire Hathaway since January 2018. On May 3, 2025, it was announced that he wil ...

for $870 million. In October 2024, Berkshire Hathaway purchased the remaining 8% stake from the family of

Walter Scott Jr. Walter Scott Jr. (May 21, 1931 – September 25, 2021) was an American billionaire businessman, civil engineer, philanthropist, and CEO of Kiewit Corporation. At the time of his death, his net worth was estimated at US$4.2 billion. Education He ...

following his death three years prior, bringing the company's ownership to 100%.

Subsidiaries

Berkshire Hathaway Energy owns the following companies: *

PacifiCorp PacifiCorp is an electric power company based in the Lloyd Center Tower in Portland, Oregon with operations in the western United States. PacifiCorp has two business units: Pacific Power, a regulated electric utility with service territory thro ...

- acquired for $9.4 billion in 2005 *

Northern Powergrid Northern Powergrid Holdings Company (formerly CE Electric UK Funding Company) is an electrical distribution company based in Newcastle Upon Tyne in England. It is the owner of Northern Powergrid (Northeast) plc (formerly Northern Electric Distr ...

(formerly CE Electric UK) **

Integrated Utility Services UK Integrated Utility Services is a high voltage electrical contracting business owned by an electrical distribution company and is based in Yorkshire in England. It is owned by Northern Powergrid which is the distribution network operator for the No ...

**CalEnergy Resources Ltd. *BHE Renewables **

Imperial Valley Geothermal Project Imperial Valley Geothermal Project is a complex of eleven geothermal power stations located in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field, along the southeastern shore of the Salton Sea in the Imperial Valley of California. It is the second largest geothe ...

*BHE Pipeline Group **Kern River Gas Transmission Company and

Kern River Pipeline Kern River Pipeline is a long natural gas pipeline line extending from southwestern Wyoming to its terminus near Bakersfield, California. The pipeline supplies local gas distribution companies, power plants, and heavy industry in Utah, Nevada, and ...

- acquired in 2006 for $960 million. **

Northern Natural Gas Company InterNorth Inc. was a large energy company headquartered at the Northern Natural Gas Building in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States, specializing in natural gas pipelines but also a force in the plastics industry, coal and petroleum exploration ...

(Omaha) - acquired from

Dynegy Dynegy Inc. is an electric company based in Houston, Texas. It owns and operates a number of power stations in the U.S., all of which are powered by fossil fuels. Dynegy was acquired by Vistra Corp on April 9, 2018. The company is located at 601 ...

in 2002 for $928 million. **BHE Gas Transmissions & Storage - acquired from

Dominion Energy Dominion Energy, Inc., commonly referred to as Dominion, is an American energy company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia that supplies electricity in parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and supplies natural gas to parts of Ut ...

in 2020 for $9.7 billion. *

BYD Company BYD Company Limited or BYD ( zh, s=比亚迪, p=Bǐyàdí) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It is a vertically integrated com ...

(4.94% interest) *

NV Energy NV Energy is a public utility which generates, transmits and distributes electric service in northern and southern Nevada, including the Las Vegas Valley, and provides natural gas service in the Reno – Sparks metropolitan area of northern Neva ...

- electricity and natural gas in most of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

*Metalogic Inspections Services - Oil and Gas,

Electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utility, utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its Electricity delivery, delivery (Electric power transm ...

, Fabrication, Pipeline, Services - acquired in 2013 for $5.4 billion. *Intelligent Energy Solutions -

Heat pump A heat pump is a device that uses electricity to transfer heat from a colder place to a warmer place. Specifically, the heat pump transfers thermal energy using a heat pump and refrigeration cycle, cooling the cool space and warming the warm s ...

solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

s, and

biomass heating system Biomass heating systems generate heat from biomass. The systems may use direct combustion, gasification, combined heat and power (CHP), anaerobic digestion or aerobic digestion to produce heat. Biomass heating may be fully automated or semi-aut ...

s * AltaLink - Acquired for C$3.24 billion in 2014. * HomeServices of America In August 2017, BHE's proposed acquisition of

Oncor Electric Delivery Oncor Electric Delivery Company is the largest transmission and distribution electric utility in the state of Texas and the 5th largest utility company in the US. In 2018, Sempra Energy acquired a majority stake in Oncor for US$9.45 billion. H ...

was terminated after BHE was outbid by

Sempra Sempra is a North American public utility holding company based in San Diego, California. The company is one of the largest utility holding companies in the United States with nearly 40 million consumers. Sempra's focus is on electric and natur ...

Environmental issues

Through 2023, the company has invested $34.1 billion in

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

projects and has ceased coal operations at 18

coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...

s. The company plans to cease coal operations at 15 more stations between 2025 and 2030.

References

External links

* {{Authority control, state=expanded Berkshire Hathaway Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies based in Des Moines, Iowa Natural gas pipeline companies Solar energy companies of the United States Electric power companies of the United Kingdom Oil companies of the United States Oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom Utilities of England Utilities of Canada