DIGEST
Merger frenzy continued in the utilities field. Texas Utilities agreed to buy natural gas company Enserch for $1.7 billion, a deal that would give the electric utility new business selling gas in Texas. Texas Utilities would take over operation of Lone Star Gas, Texas's biggest gas company, and Lone Star Pipeline, which operates more than 9,200 miles of gas pipeline, while Enserch Exploration would be spun off as an independent company prior to the merger.</br></br>Western Resources, meanwhile, offered to buy Kansas City Power & Light in a $1.7 billion deal aimed at breaking up a friendly merger proposed between KCPL and UtiliCorp United. Western Resources said a merger would result in a stronger company with deeper rate cuts for electric and gas customers in Missouri and Kansas. It also said the combination would not result in any layoffs.</br></br>The D.C. Office of People's Counsel has asked the city's Public Service Commission to look into whether Bell Atlantic's new 411 directory assistance system is "in the interest of consumers," according to People's Counsel Elizabeth A. Noel. Bell Atlantic is phasing in a new computer database that requires 411 callers to specify the city of the number they request, rather than a broad geographic region. "We will address any concerns the Public Service Commission may have," a Bell Atlantic official said.</br></br>T-bill rates fell. The discount rate on three-month Treasury bills auctioned yesterday fell to 4.87 percent from 5.03 percent the previous week. Rates on six-month bills fell to 5.03 percent from 5.19 percent. The actual return to investors is 5 percent for three-month bills, with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,876.90, and 5.23 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,745.70. Separately, the Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for changing adjustable-rate mortgages, rose to 5.62 percent last week from 5.48 percent the previous week.</br></br>The Supreme Court agreed to decide how difficult it should be for federal regulators to win lawsuits against officers of failed federally chartered banks. The court said it will hear arguments by several former officers of City Federal Savings Bank in Bedminster, N.J., who say the government should have to prove they acted with "gross negligence," not just ordinary negligence.