Gov. Martin O'Malley for the first time is backing regulatory approval of Constellation Energy Group's joint venture with a French utility - but only if BGE customers get one-time credits that could be worth more than $200 per household and other conditions are met.
O'Malley, a Democrat, has publicly reproached Constellation and argued that the Public Service Commission, the state's top energy regulator, should ensure that the company's proposal to sell half its nuclear business to Electricite de France for $4.5 billion is in the public's interest.
The governor's heavily qualified support for the transaction comes after he failed to wrangle concessions from Baltimore-based Constellation, which owns Baltimore Gas & Electric, during months of negotiations that took place apart from the regulatory hearings. Many of the demands O'Malley made during those talks are now the conditions he proposes to the PSC.
A copy of final briefing papers the administration plans to file in the case was obtained by The Baltimore Sun. Final briefs from all interested parties are due today.
"The Commission should attach conditions to the approval of this transaction that will give full confidence to the credit markets, to BGE customers, and to the public as a whole," the administration writes.
Constellation spokesman Robert L. Gould declined to comment on the administration's latest stance.
The PSC case is nearing an end after extensive hearings during which the commission took testimony, not only from the companies, but from the public and the Maryland Office of the People's Counsel, which represents ratepayers and opposes the deal.
While the complicated deal is under the purview of the PSC as a regulatory matter, O'Malley's involvement has lent it a political backdrop. The governor faces re-election next year and made his opposition to a proposed BGE rate increase a central point of his 2006 campaign. He has been unable to stop utility bills from rising in his first term.
As an independent regulatory body appointed by the governor with the state Senate's consent, the PSC could reject the transaction, approve the deal or allow it to move forward with certain stipulations.
The administration laid out a range of desired stipulations, from ratepayer credits to measures that would bolster the independence and finances of BGE, the state's largest utility, which serves more than 1.1 million residences. The administration argues that legally, the transaction not only must not harm ratepayers but must provide them benefits.
