Constellation Energy

Last week, a decade after Maryland deregulated electricity by splitting the business of generating power from the business of delivering it to your house, worried regulators took a step backward. They essentially ordered Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and Potomac Electric Power Co. to seek proposals for building a big, new electricity plant — and billing the cost to ratepayers. BGE, Pepco and other delivery companies were supposed to be through with generation plants. They were supposed to supply households, factories and stores with electricity bought from third parties on the unregulated wholesale market.

I agree with letter writer Warren Updike that the power companies should pay for the upgrades to their infrastructure ("Let utilities pay for upgrades," Feb. 8). I am actually appalled that my delegates and senators have approved this measure. I agree that these upgrades are way overdue. Living near Herring Run Park, there has been an on-again, off-again leak near Argonne Drive. Instead of replacement, Baltimore Gas and Electric has done patchwork repairs and wasted a lot of gas. Exelon's acquisition of Constellation Energy must have taken into account these infrastructure upgrades in their decision.

The dismantling of Exelon Corp.'s Zion Station nuclear power plant near Chicago is setting several remarkable precedents. It's the biggest-ever nuclear decommissioning job in the United States, says Exelon, which is seeking permission to buy Constellation Energy and Baltimore Gas & Electric. The enterprise will take a decade, employing hundreds. Instead of separating the radioactive debris from the nonradioactive, the usual method, workers will ship most of the rubble to Utah and dump it in the desert.

The O'Malley administration invited Maryland's colleges and universities on Monday to bid for $2 million in grants to research issues around developing an offshore wind energy project off Ocean City. The announcement by the Maryland Energy Administration and the Maryland Higher Education Commission comes on the eve of the first hearing in Annapolis on Gov. Martin O'Malley's offshore wind legislation.  The House Economic Matters Committee is scheduled to take up the governor's bill, which would have the state's residential electricity ratepayers pay up to $1.50 a month to subsidize a 200-megawatt wind project, estimated to cost $1 billion or more.

A deal to transfer Constellation Energy Group's stake in a nuclear development company to its French partner, EDF Group, closed Wednesday, according to documents filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last month, Constellation agreed to sell its 50 percent stake in Unistar Nuclear Energy to EDF for $140 million, giving EDF sole ownership of the joint venture and its plans to develop a third unit at Calvert Cliffs in Southern Maryland. The deal called for EDF to transfer 3.5 million shares it owns, valued around $110 million, to Constellation and give up its seat on the Constellation board.

Mayo A. Shattuck III has now publicly acknowledged the ruin of Constellation Energy and accepted responsibility for the downfall of the energy corporation ("Tough measures," Feb. 19). But his promise to "steer this great company back to health with renewed growth" rings hollow after his leadership drove expansion and irresponsible deal-making that have severely harmed Constellation's viability. And now, after being forced to sell corporate assets at fire-sale prices and threatening to raise energy costs for consumers already crushed by economic conditions and Constellation's greed, Mr. Shattuck feels humility?

DES MOINES, Iowa - It would hardly be a shock if John Perkins had beefs with MidAmerican Energy Co. After all, he is Iowa's consumer advocate. His job is to look out for the utility's 630,000 electric customers and 550,000 natural gas users statewide. Maybe the real surprise is this: Perkins has high praise for the Warren Buffett-led utility, a unit of MidAmerican Energy Holdings, which on Friday signed a $4.7 billion agreement to buy Constellation Energy Group. "They play very tough.

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.

Two state senators have asked Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler to investigate executive pay at Constellation Energy Group and whether CEO Mayo A. Shattuck III's compensation package amounts to an unlawful waste of assets shouldered by customers. Noting the national backlash against "excessive" executive compensation, Democratic Sens. Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County and James Brochin of Baltimore County asked Thursday for a legal opinion on whether Gansler or any government official has the authority to void pay arrangements for Shattuck, or whether the General Assembly can restrict his pay. "It seems like excessive greed for a public utility," Brochin said.

In a move to increase its market as an energy supplier to large commercial and industrial customers, Constellation Energy Group Inc. said yesterday that it has purchased two Midwest energy marketing companies from Wisconsin Energy Corp. The Baltimore utility acquired Blackhawk Energy Services, which provides natural gas and electricity to customers in Illinois, and Kaztex Energy Management, which provides natural gas to customers in Wisconsin. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisitions will give Constellation an additional 1,100 commercial, industrial and wholesale customers, and fits with its strategy of supplying energy nationally to large customers.

The BWI Business Partnership will host its September Signature breakfast, Wednesday, Sept. 19, from 7:45 to 9:15 a.m., at Four Points by Sheraton BWI Airport, 1001 Scott Drive, in Linthicum. Calvin Butler, senior vice president for corporate affairs for Exelon Corporation, with be the featured speaker. Exelon is the parent company of BGE, ComEd in Chicago, PECO in Philadelphia and Exelon Generation. Butler has been the face of Exelon in Maryland since the energy giant purchase Constellation Energy in March and is charged with raising business support for the company.

Exelon Corp. cut about 170 jobs in Maryland earlier this summer, just over half through layoffs and the rest through voluntary buyouts, the energy company said Monday. Exelon — which acquired Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group in March — said it also has moved jobs from Pennsylvania to Maryland, characterizing the number as enough to largely offset the cuts. Exelon said the reductions were made on June 22, with none of the layoffs occurring at Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. The company promised a two-year freeze on BGE layoffs as part of the merger.

Nearly two dozen companies will sponsor Maryland's bicentennial commemoration of the War of 1812, contributing more than $5 million, the nonprofit group planning the events said Monday. Constellation Energy will become one of the biggest corporate sponsors, joining previously announced companies AT&T - the top sponsor, with a more than $1 million contribution - and Papa John's. Other sponsors announced Monday include Legg Mason, M&T Bank, Pepsi and Under Armour. In addition, the state government has pledged $6 million for the three-year effort, said Star-Spangled 200, the nonprofit affiliate of the Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission, which is planning the commemoration.

Baltimore made the newest Fortune 500 list by the skin of its teeth — with a company that was based here last year but is now part of an out-of-state concern. Constellation Energy Group, which merged with Chicago-based Exelon Corp. in March, is No. 199 on Fortune magazine's 2012 list of the country's largest companies. The list is calculated using 2011 information. Five other companies from Maryland made the list, all from Montgomery County: defense contractor Lockheed Martin (No. 58)

For manipulating energy markets Constellation Energy has just paid the highest penalty in history - $245 million - to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("Merger, record fine OK'd," March 13). That's more than all previous penalties combined. While the media and their audience are distracted by sensational stories, real stories about issues that impact our daily lives seem to be ignored. While we pay higher energy rates, and while churches like the one I serve help poor people keep their lights on, Constellation Energy manipulates energy markets, cuts deals, and no one is going to jail.

The name "Constellation Energy" will still be around. The energy trading firm will still be doing much the same thing it ever has in a large, new building on Baltimore's waterfront. It will have somewhat fewer employees, but it will, at least for the next several years, maintain its status as one of the region's largest corporate philanthropists. And it's not as if Constellation was universally beloved around town anyway; despite its many contributions to the local economy and charitable scene, the company was often derided, as was its CEO, Mayo A. Shattuck III. So why should we mourn the sale of Baltimore's last Fortune 500 company to Chicago-based Exelon?

Constellation Energy Group Inc. said yesterday that it has completed the sale of its 41.5 percent stake in Corporate Office Properties Trust, a Columbia real estate investment trust, as part of a strategy to focus on its core energy business. The Baltimore energy company, which was COPT 's largest shareholder, sold 8.9 million common shares at $12.04 per share. COPT also issued another 2 million shares. Constellation announced last month that it planned to sell its COPT shares. Shareholders and analysts had complained that the real estate interests distracted and sometimes hurt the company.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and Potomac Electric Power Co. yesterday selected Constellation Energy Corp. as the name for their combined operations after completion of a pending merger in March 1997.Officials of the two utilities said they picked the Constellation moniker -- which BGE has used since 1985 for its various real estate, energy and investment subsidiaries -- partly because of its nebulous nature."We've chosen an identity that is not geographically confining and will serve us well in our franchised operating territories and beyond," BGE Chairman and Chief Executive Christian H. Poindexter, who is slated to become chief executive of the merged entity, said in a prepared statement.

Granted, the announced move of Constellation Energy/Exelon's new Baltimore headquarters around the Inner Harbor's northeast corner is not a quantum jump. Constellation's present location at 750 E.Pratt St. is already on the edge of downtown, furnishing walk-up patrons for restaurants in Little Italy and other eastern neighborhoods. The new HQ will be less than a mile away. But it will pull more energy from the downtown core and shift the balance of activity further eastward. Downtown landlords, who have lost tenants in the economic downturn, were already concerned about the planned redevelopment of State Center in midtown Baltimore, on their northern flank.

Gov. Martin O'Malley may not have gotten Exelon to bump up the $100 rate credit it promised to Baltimore Gas and Electric customers as part of its proposed merger with Constellation Energy, but he secured concessions that will be far more valuable to Maryland ratepayers in the long run. The settlement the governor plans to announce Thursday includes a vastly greater commitment to renewable energy and other new power generation than Exelon had ever...