Constellation Energy

State leaders failed to protect ratepayers The arrival of the 50 percent electricity rate increase demonstrates the dismal failure of our elected officials to protect their constituents ("BGE rates arrive quietly," June 1). Where are the champions of last summer who promised to take action against Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and Constellation Energy? It's all fine and well to blame former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and his rubber-stamp Public Service Commission. But we were promised solutions, not finger-pointing.

Defending champion Bobby Wadkins is all set for this fall's Senior Players Championship at Baltimore Country Club, but he won't have any special knowledge of the historic course. The fifth major of the Champions Tour has been transplanted from Dearborn, Mich., where Wadkins came back from four strokes down in the final round to win his first major tournament last July. He said yesterday that he's looking forward to the opportunity to hang on to the title even if the surroundings won't be the same.

Buttressing Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s ability to compete in Maryland's soon-to-be deregulated power industry, shareholders yesterday approved the creation of a holding company, Constellation Energy Group Inc."We have been doing a lot of heavy lifting to get the rules in place to give us a chance to compete," said Christian H. Poindexter, BGE chairman, president and chief executive, during the company's annual meeting at the Mechanic Theatre downtown. Poindexter will hold the same titles in the holding company.

Now that BGE Co.'s electric deregulation plan has been approved, Constellation Energy Group, its parent, said yesterday that it will build and acquire additional power plants as it focuses on becoming a major national power provider.To kick off the strategy, Constellation Energy said it would shift its 13 power plants -- 10 in Maryland and three in Pennsylvania with total capacity of 6,200 megawatts -- from BGE to two nonregulated subsidiaries once Maryland's electric market is fully deregulated July 1.BGE's 12 hydroelectric and fossil fuel plants will become part of Constellation Power Source, which was set up in 1997 to sell energy and related services to the wholesale market and municipalities throughout the country.

Constellation Energy Group, the parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., said yesterday that it may report a net loss in the fourth quarter because of an extra $80 million after-tax write-off related to the recent approval of its electric deregulation plan for Central Maryland.The company had expected to write off a pretax total of $150 million to account for depreciation of its generation assets over the four quarters that began with the third quarter of 1999, which ended Sept. 30, it said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday.

The Rouse Co. and a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. subsidiary announced a pact under yesterday which the utility will supply energy-related services to the Columbia-based real estate concern's projects nationwide.The Constellation Energy Source Inc. contract dovetails with BGE's efforts to lock up its largest industrial and commercial users as the energy industry embraces deregulation and competition.Maryland is expected to open utility competition for commercial consumers in 2001.The three-year contract could ultimately save Rouse -- and its tenants -- hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

Constellation Energy Group Inc., continuing an effort to shed its real estate holdings, yesterday agreed to sell all but one of its senior assisted-living facilities to a Virginia company for $88.2 million in cash and assumed debt.Fairfax, Va.-based Sunrise Assisted Living Inc.'s purchase of the 12 existing facilities -- together with three under construction and land for six others -- represents another major step in the company's quest to pare its real estate.In December 1998, the corporate parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. sold the bulk of its commercial real estate portfolio to a Philadelphia real estate investment trust for $153.

Orion Power Holdings Inc., a joint venture between Constellation Energy Group and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said yesterday that it agreed to buy seven power plants from a Pittsburgh company for $1.71 billion in cash.Baltimore-based Orion will acquire the plants, in Pennsylvania and Ohio, from Duquesne Light Co., a subsidiary of DQE Inc.The seven plants have a total capacity of 2,614 megawatts -- enough to light 2.6 million homes -- and would double the megawatt capacity of Orion's portfolio, which includes power plants throughout New York, the company said.

NOTES ABOUT your money and investments:Baltimore Gas and Electric stock, now Constellation Energy Group Inc., is ranked Group 2 -- Good-to-High Quality -- in Argus Research Electric Utility Rankings. Potomac Electric Power Co., our neighbor to the south, is listed under Group 1 -- High Quality."You don't have to take Social Security at age 65. You get larger benefits if you apply later, whether working or retired." (Kiplinger Washington Letter)"A charitable remainder trust is useful in financial and estate planning.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and its Washington merger partner appealed yesterday to state regulators to modify an order that the two utilities claim threatens their pending $2.9 billion union.The BGE and Potomac Electric Power Co. filing with the Public Service Commission seeks to reduce a $56 million-a-year electric rate cut for Maryland customers and rescind other conditions the state agency set in approving the merger.BGE and Pepco hope to slash the PSC's rate reduction to $26 million a year in exchange for extending a base rate freeze from three years to four.

Will the deal allowing Constellation Energy to sell half its nuclear business to the French EDF Group (approved by the Public Service Commission and both companies) be good for Maryland? Yes 64% No 26% Not sure 10% (1,005 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Is the statue of William Donald Schaefer that was unveiled at the Inner Harbor this week an appropriate tribute to the former mayor, governor and comptroller? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

Were officials correct to disqualify a cross country athlete from Hereford High School for a minor uniform violation, costing his school a first place finish? Yes 27% No 67% Not sure 6% (1,239 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Will the deal allowing Constellation Energy to sell half its nuclear business to the French EDF Group - approved by the Public Service Commission last week and the companies Monday - be good for Maryland? Vote at baltimoresun.

The video, lovingly promoted by Maryland Republicans, has gotten nearly 4,000 hits on YouTube. It's a 2006 ad for the successful gubernatorial campaign of Martin O'Malley. "How did this happen?" says the somber voice-over guy, as images of electricity hardware fill the screen. "An increase in utility rates, costing consumers and seniors while energy companies make record profits? The special interests already have their governor. We need one of our own - Martin O'Malley, taking on BG and E to stop the rate hikes.

If EDF Group and Constellation Energy wanted to use Maryland regulators as an excuse to scrap their $4.5 billion deal, the regulators let them down. The Public Service Commission's requirements for approving the deal are relatively minor. They amount to shuffling around money the companies already have or were planning to spend - plus new regulations Constellation has already agreed to in principle. They come nowhere close to the "unreasonable conditions" the Baltimore-based energy company warned that regulators might impose.

Why no manslaughter charge in Hopkins student's death? According to the article 'Terrifying Trip through the city" (Oct. 27), eyewitnesses called the police and reported Thomas Meighan's alleged unsafe driving - not just once but enough that he's charged with 17 traffic offenses based on the eyewitness reports. Yet none of these offenses include manslaughter for the death of Miriam Frankl. There were eyewitnesses to that too, but I read (and re-read several times) that according to the police, the states attorney's office might not have enough evidence to charge him in her death.

Baltimore County firefighters and emergency responders extricated a man Friday night who had fallen about 120 feet into a coal silo at a Constellation Energy power plant in Bowleys Quarters, a Fire Department spokeswoman said. The confined-space rescue began at 6:13 p.m. at the facility, in the 1000 block of Carroll Island Road, according to the spokeswoman, Lt. Lynn Mullahey. Specialized units were able to remove the man, who had been contracted to perform work in the silo, by 9:01 p.m., she said.

Constellation Energy Group's proposed joint nuclear venture cleared a big regulatory hurdle Friday, getting the green light from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC's approval of Constellation's $4.5 billion deal to sell half its nuclear power business to French utility Electricite de France leaves only one more test that the companies had not expected to face: a review by Maryland regulators. Last week, the Public Service Commission extended hearings on the transaction because of wrangling over the agreement's final terms.

For all but one week of the year, the historic East Course at Baltimore Country Club is a lush, well-manicured private sanctuary for members, a tough but fair test that everyone from scratch players to those who shoot in triple digits can appreciate. But during the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, which begins Thursday in Timonium, the iconic club long known as Five Farms is transformed. This lovely octogenarian that was laid out by legendary golf architect A.W. Tillinghast in the 1920s and renovated four years ago by Kentucky designer Keith Foster has a bit of a modern-day beast added to its timeless beauty.

Focus on efficiency, not nuclear plant Sunday's Sun editorial claims the Constellation Energy Group-Electricit? de France deal will help ratepayers, in part because EDF might construct a new nuclear reactor that will increase Maryland's supply of electricity ("PSC's power play," Sept. 20). The cost of a new nuclear reactor is in the billions, and the electricity generated by the reactor may not be available for a decade. The problem is that ratepayers are suffering high energy costs now. The best and most immediate solution to our high energy costs is investment in energy efficiency.

The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners has gone on record numerous times in support of the proposed expansion at Constellation Energy's Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. We take the decision to support the expansion seriously. We have weighed the impact of the project on our community based upon the plant's 30-year safe operating history, and we have considered the energy issues facing Maryland and the nation. The board testified before the Maryland Public Service Commission Sept.