Alagasco will Become Spire in 2017
May 2016
By David Zaslawsky
The roots of Alagasco – short for Alabama Gas Corp. – have been around for 150-plus years. The roots of Missouri Gas Energy have been around for 150 years and the roots of Laclede Gas Co. have been around for 150-plus years.
During that span, the names have changed. Back in 1852, there was a Montgomery Gas Light Co. that acquired Birmingham Gas Light Co. In 1948, Alabama Gas Co. and Birmingham Gas Co. merged to form Alabama Gas Corp., and that company became Alagasco Inc. in 1974.
Now, pending shareholder approval – all those names will disappear and a new name – Spire – will emerge. The Laclede Group, the parent company of Alagasco, Missouri Gas Energy and Laclede Gas Co., has grown to become the country’s fifth-largest publicly traded natural gas company after adding almost 1 million customers the last three years.
Those customers were in Alabama as well as western Missouri. The firm’s enterprise value has quadrupled to $4.5 billion.
The name is changing “because we are a growing company and we have multiple names in multiple locations,” said L. Craig Dowdy, senior vice president of external affairs, corporate communications and marketing for Spire.
“We’re trying to unite under one name, and in this case it’s Spire, to bring all those companies together with one mission, one culture, one strategy to deliver energy … and through that process we put a downward pressure on the cost and rates, because anywhere there can be shared services between those three utilities, we do that.
The name change for Alagasco will actually occur sometime next year, but no date has been finalized. There will be bills with the new name as well as new uniforms and trucks identified with the energy company.“Customers therefore would have downward pressure on costs as opposed to three independent utilities having to operate with their own engineering department; their own accounting department; their own set of executives and management. This is a way that also saves money for customers.”
“Our name reminds us there are no limits to what we can achieve together, because when you champion people by delivering energy that inspires – everything is possible,” Suzanne Sitherwood, president and CEO of The Laclede Group, said in a statement.
Jessica Willingham, vice president of communications and marketing, said in a statement, “Spire is about bringing energy and people together. It’s about the energy we provide and how that energy empowers our customers.”
It is a big deal for a company to change its name, and The Laclede Group “went through a lot of analysis” to gauge customers’ reactions, Dowdy said. The company actually conducted a survey without specifically saying there would be a name change. About eight in 10 of the Alagasco respondents said they would have no concern about a name change, Dowdy said.
Another result is implementing the best practices from each of three companies across the organization, which “makes your process more efficient; provides better service to customers; and does so at a lower price,” said Dowdy, who has been involved in the energy field for 35-plus years. He practiced law for 25 years with a large international firm and worked with energy clients. He has been with The Laclede Group for three years.
“We think it helps facilitate being able to provide that service (in) a better manner than has been done so far.”
The Laclede Group, which has its headquarters in St. Louis, also has a non-regulated and alternative fueling business in South Carolina.
