The credit crisis has cut off much-needed financing for the US power sector, which equity investors have abandoned en masse, setting the stage for a string of mergers or bankruptcy filings.

In the past month, two potential mergers have been announced: Warren Buffett’s bid on Constellation Energy and Exelon offered to take over NRG Energy. Analysts say Reliant Energy, Dynegy, Calpine, AES and Mirant are likely to be next on the list, with investors betting against them in both credit and equity markets.