Employees Offered Buyouts In Merger

More than 1,200 non-union employees of Puget Sound Power & Light Co. and Washington Energy Co. are being offered buyouts in advance of the utilities’ pending merger.

The offer includes a $5,000 lump-sum payment, one month’s worth of base pay and two weeks’ pay for each year of service.

The minimum anyone would receive is three months’ worth of base pay and the maximum is 18 months’ pay.

The workers could begin signing up Monday and have until the end of January to decide. The offer applies to 891 Puget Power employees and 364 Washington Energy workers - 1,255 people out of a combined workforce of 3,500.

The two companies announced their merger plan in October, including a provision to trim the combined workforce by 8 percent.