Kansas City, Mo. ? Electric and natural gas utility Aquila Inc. said Monday it may sell some of its utilities in five states in an effort to reduce its debt.

The Kansas City, Mo.-based company said it was considering the sale of natural gas operations in Missouri, Michigan and Minnesota; electric operations in Colorado and Kansas; and St. Joseph Power & Light in St. Joseph, Mo.

The company estimated the assets to be worth $875 million and serving more than 632,000 customers.

Aquila also said it planned to sell three seasonal power plants and Everest Connections, which provides digital cable, telephone and high-speed Internet services in the Kansas City area.

The sales would leave the company with electric operations in Missouri and natural gas operations in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado, serving nearly 730,000 customers. Aquila provides natural gas service in the Lawrence area.

CEO Richard Green said the company hadn’t decided which operations to sell and didn’t give a timetable for when those sales would be made.

“Aquila will continue to take a disciplined strategic approach,” Green said. “Our decision whether to sell an asset will be based on a comparison of the value the market offers versus the value we can build by continuing to own and operate that business.”

Green said the potential sales were part of a “repositioning” plan meant to reduce the company’s debt, giving it better financial terms when borrowing money to reinvest up to $650 million in its remaining operations during the next five years.

The company said it also planned to continue working with state regulators and lawmakers to make it easier to change rates to deal with fluctuating fuel prices.

Aquila shares rose 10 cents, or 2.5 percent, to close at $4.03 in Monday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has been trading at a 52-week range of $2.25 to $4.86.