A sum of $3 billion is likely to be raised by The Australian state of New South Wales by disposing three of its electricity retail businesses, presumes Citigroup Inc.

It postponed its planned sale of the power assets. A citigroup analyst Marie Miyashiro, said that no sale is likely to be completed before the end of the year. The state will then allow groups to begin the study of finances toward the middle of 2010, Treasurer Eric Roozendaal said.

According to the websites, Energy Australia (one of the three businesses) has 1.4 million customers, while Country Energy has more than 800,000.

"In the retail business, it's all about economies of scale. Both of them will be interested in the retail side. That's a no-brainer", Steve Durose, an analyst at Fitch Ratings in Sydney, said today by phone.

Citigroup's Miyashiro said, "We are of the view that at the very least, the retail assets should be privatized on their own. We would view the government's failure to privatize at least the retail portion of their energy assets as a negative for the utilities sector as a whole".

However, the sales would allow New South Wales to provide health, education and transportation services at a time of declining revenue, the Government said on March 5 last year.