Constellation

How hard is it to be fired from the top reaches of corporate America? Consider the strange case of Mayo A. Shattuck III, chairman and chief executive of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy. Commodity bets with borrowed money and market turmoil nearly pushed Constellation into bankruptcy in September. The company's stock has fallen 75 percent since the beginning of 2008. Constellation shares have delivered about the same return as a broad basket of U.S. electricity and utility stocks since Shattuck took over in late 2001.

Constellation Energy Group announced late yesterday that it sold a big piece of its commodities trading operations, once the biggest source of its growth but more recently the source of financial troubles that forced it to find a merger partner. Macquarie Group of Australia agreed yesterday to buy Constellation's natural gas unit, based in Houston, for an undisclosed price, and supply gas to Constellation NewEnergy Gas, the company's retail division. Yesterday's transaction is the Baltimore company's latest move to reduce risk and the large collateral requirements needed to run trading operations.

Constellation Energy Group said yesterday that it has contracted to buy all of the power from a new gas-fired generator being built in York County, Pa., to help alleviate a looming energy shortage in the Mid-Atlantic power grid. The project being built by Conectiv Energy will improve overall reliability of the grid, but energy experts said it would do little to lower prices or solve a projected energy shortfall for Baltimore Gas and Electric customers in Central Maryland. A shortage of high-capacity power lines will prevent the area from tapping into the new power source for years to come.

Robert Jemellaro, a retired Constellation Energy human resources director, died Friday at the Brighton Gardens nursing home of a heart attack. The Perry Hall resident was 67. Born in Baltimore and raised in Highlandtown, Mr. Jemellaro was a 1958 graduate of Patterson Park High School and was student body president. He attended the University of Baltimore and the Maryland Institute College of Art. He served in the Army. He joined Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. on a work-study program. He initially worked in customer service and remained with the company, eventually becoming director of human resources with Constellation, the parent of BGE. He retired in 1998.

Exactly how much profit is Constellation Energy making on the generation plants it got from Baltimore Gas and Electric seven years ago in the move to deregulate electricity? How much lower would electricity rates be if the plants were still owned by BGE and regulated by the state instead of being able to charge what the market bears? What are those plants worth, anyway, now that electricity prices have zoomed up? We're about to find out. The Public Service Commission and its chairman, Steven B. Larsen, are days away from hiring experts to analyze Maryland's deregulated system in the greatest detail ever.

Under threat of a lawsuit from state regulators, Constellation Energy Corp. said yesterday that it will stop dumping fly ash from coal at a mine in Anne Arundel County while it negotiates and carries out a plan to clean up neighbors' contaminated drinking water. By Monday, Constellation will no longer drop off truckloads of fly ash, a byproduct of its coal-fired plants, at an 80-acre site in Gambrills owned by BBSS Inc., said Rob Gould, a Constellation spokesman, but he declined to say where it would deposit the debris instead.

The rigging of the electricity marketplace to enrich power companies and executives looks even worse than we thought. Just as Maryland was getting shocked by higher kilowatt prices, grid managers have allowed extra profit for generation outfits such as Constellation Energy, parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. The bonus, whose magnitude was revealed Friday, might eventually cost the typical BGE household $10 a month or more and add hundreds of...

Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group's nuclear development arm said yesterday that it has asked state regulators for a permit to build a third reactor at Calvert Cliffs in Lusby, though the company maintains it has not yet decided to go ahead with the project. UniStar Nuclear Energy, a joint venture between Constellation and Electricite de France SA, applied to the Maryland Public Service Commission for what's called a certificate of public convenience and necessity. The PSC will coordinate a multiagency review of the project's potential impact on the environment and state infrastructure, among other things.

One day after state officials meted out punishment to a coal-ash disposal site in Gambrills, Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold signed into law yesterday emergency legislation that bans the opening of fly-ash dumps for a year. Although the bill does not address Constellation Energy's 12-year use of a disposal site operated by BBSS Inc., Leopold said the one-year deadline provides "important leverage" over the Maryland Department of the Environment as the agency looks to institute stronger regulations over how coal-fired power plants dispose of waste ash. "The council responded to the voice of the people," said Leopold, who introduced the bill after a county investigation in August revealed cancer-causing metals in 23 private wells near the 80-acre BBSS property.

Constellation Energy Group said yesterday that it is teaming with Electricite de France SA, the world's largest operator of nuclear power plants, to develop and invest in a fleet of new nuclear reactors that if licensed would be among the first new ones in the U.S. in a generation. The stated-controlled French company will invest $625 million in a joint venture with Constellation called UniStar Nuclear Energy LLC. UniStar plans to license and build reactors based on a French design being adapted for the United States.

Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Public Service Commission are doing their best to save Maryland from Constellation Energy. Just when the state was plunging into its biggest recession since the early 1990s, Constellation threatened to spend $8 billion and create 4,000 construction jobs on a new nuclear power plant on the Chesapeake. Fortunately, the commission has ordered endless, expensive, irrelevant hearings that are likely to make Constellation and its partner, EDF Group, give up. So diligent is O'Malley that his energy department tried to suppress testimony from the commission's own expert showing that Marylanders would save a billion dollars over eight years from the new electricity supply and resulting lower prices.

Maryland energy regulators extended hearings Friday on Constellation Energy Group's proposed nuclear joint venture with a French utility, likely delaying yet again a decision on the fate of the deal. Additional hearings are scheduled for Oct. 14, and Oct. 15 if necessary. That means it's unlikely that the Public Service Commission will make a decision by its Oct. 16 deadline, even though the commission has tried to accommodate the companies' concerns over the timeliness of the deal's closing.

PSC to meet again over Constellation-EDF deal The Maryland Public Service Commission is scheduled to meet again Friday with parties involved in Constellation Energy Group's proposed nuclear joint venture with French utility Electricite de France. The PSC met Tuesday for an additional evidentiary hearing on the transaction after the Maryland attorney general criticized Constellation for waiting until the close of the hearings last week before disclosing the final terms of the transaction.

Maryland's attorney general called Thursday for additional hearings on Constellation Energy Group Inc.'s deal with a French utility, arguing the companies didn't release final terms of the transaction until after hearings concluded on Monday, defying "any notion of fairness." Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler's office asked the Public Service Commission to extend the schedule for the regulatory proceedings by two weeks. The PSC, which had planned to issue a ruling by mid-October, has been considering whether the $4.5 billion sale of nearly half of Constellation's nuclear power business to Electricite de France would hurt Constellation's regulated utility, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., and its customers.

Maryland's Public Service Commission faces a major test of its independence and wisdom as a regulator in its decision whether to approve the proposed purchase by Electricit? de France of nearly half of Constellation Energy Group's nuclear holdings. Gov. Martin O'Malley, who appointed or re-appointed the PSC members, has signaled extreme skepticism of the deal, including in an op-ed Wednesday in The Baltimore Sun in which he claimed the deal held "no real benefits" for Baltimore Gas & Electric ratepayers.

After a long week of grueling testimony on Constellation Energy Group's proposed nuclear joint venture with a French partner, the regulatory review will continue into next week, a hurdle that both companies had not expected when they signed the deal last year. The state Public Service Commission heard from more than 10 witnesses in late-night sessions on whether the $4.5 billion sale of nearly half of Constellation's nuclear power business to Electricite de France would hurt Constellation's regulated utility, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., and its customers.

This week, the Maryland Public Service Commission is considering whether to approve Constellation Energy's $4.5 billion deal to sell half its nuclear power business to a French company. Should the PSC approve the deal? Yes 78% No 19% Not sure 3% (1,717 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Are private, for-profit health insurance co-ops preferable to a public option in health care reform? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

This week the Maryland Public Service Commission began a public hearing into Constellation Energy's proposed $4.5 billion sale of half its nuclear assets to a huge French company, EDF. As currently proposed, the deal appears to be a good one for Constellation's CEO and his shareholders but presents enormous risks and no real benefits for more than 1.1 million ratepayers who depend on BGE to provide a vital service at reasonable rates. The PSC and the state have taken an active role in this proceeding not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because we have a legal obligation to do so. If not, we would abdicate our responsibility to protect the interests of BGE customers from Constellation - the same company that brought BGE to the verge of bankruptcy almost one year ago due to speculative trading practices and a massive $1.8 billion accounting error, while simultaneously bestowing an $87 million golden parachute on its CEO, according to a 2009 SEC filing.

Should Rep. Joe Wilson apologize on the floor of the House for shouting "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's speech on health care last week? Yes 42% No 56% Not sure 2% (1,826 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : This week, the Maryland Public Service Commission is considering whether to approve Constellation Energy's $4.5 billion deal to sell half its nuclear power business to a French company. Should the PSC approve the deal? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

Nearly a year ago, Constellation Energy Group was fighting for its very existence as a credit crisis during the financial sector meltdown pushed the company to the verge of bankruptcy. On Monday, the Baltimore company faced a different fight: trying to convince Maryland energy regulators that a proposed $4.5 billion deal to sell half of its nuclear power business to a French utility is in the public's best interest. "We hope the commission will see the tremendous benefits, both short- and long-term, that will flow to the state of Maryland as a result of the joint venture," Constellation spokesman Rob Gould said.