PRESQUE ISLE — Customers of Bangor Hydro Electric Co. and Maine Public Service Co. will soon begin to receive notices about their electricity bill from a new company, though in name only.

At a Monday afternoon news conference at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle, Bangor Hydro Electric and Maine Public Service announced they will drop their existing names and adopt a new moniker that reflects the fact they’ve been owned by the same corporate parent since 2010.

On Jan. 1, the two companies will become officially known as Emera Maine.

Susan Faloon, a spokeswoman for Bangor Hydro, told the Bangor Daily News on Monday that the companies have one message for customers: “New name, same commitment.”

The two companies have essentially been operating as one utility for the past few years, ever since Halifax-based Emera acquired Maine Public Service in 2010. Emera acquired Bangor Hydro in 2002, Faloon said. The companies filed merger documents last year and will officially become one on Jan. 1.

“We don’t expect any other major changes,” Faloon said. “We just want people to know we’re the same local people they’ve been working with the past however many years. We’re not changing the way we do things; we’re just changing the name because we’re bigger than just Bangor Hydro and Maine Public Service.”

In addition to the name change, the companies on Monday announced a $250,000 donation to the Maine Winter Sports Center’s Healthy Hometowns program, the first donation to be made under the new Emera Maine name, Faloon said.

Copy the Story Link