Jaskiewicz Says Delegation Is Working to Help AES

Montville Mayor Joe Jaskiewicz said this morning that the legislative delegation is working to help AES, the town’s top taxpayer, work out its financial difficulties.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on Tuesday, after closing its doors late last week.

“It’s kind of a surprise,” Jaskiewicz said this morning. “They are trying to get themselves reorganized.”

He said he is trying to “get them hooked up with our legislators, who can help them work this out.”

He said the process is underway, but he believes it will take a couple months.

Rep. Tom Reynolds, whom Jaskiewicz describes as leading the effort, was not available this morning.

In court papers as reported by Dow Jones Financial Information Services, AES Thames “has struggled under the weight of increased costs associated with energy production and an ‘onerous’ contract with Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.”

AES has been “cash negative” for five years, Dow Jones reports.

Smurfit-Stone buys much of its energy from AES Thames.

Smurfit-Stone's most recent financial report shows that its adjusted net income in the fourth quarter of 2010 was $62 million, down from its adjusted net income of $76 million in the third quarter of 2010. The report says that the adjustments in the third and fourth quarters were “primarily the exclusion of costs related to reorganization and restructuring.”

AES's main creditors, according to the bankruptcy documents, are:

International Coal Group of Scott Depot, WV, which describes itself as “a leading producer of coal in Northern and Central Appalachia and the Illinois Basin”; $1,205,118

Headwaters Resources of South Jordan, UT, which describes itself as “America's largest manager and marketer of coal combustion products”; $1,201, 536

Moran Towing Corp. of New Canaan, CT, which describes itself as “the leader in tug and barge services on the United States East and Gulf Coasts”; $787,790

To see a complete list of creditors, and the bankruptcy filing, click on the PDF in the photo box.

Neither Smurfit-Stone nor AES returned calls this morning.