Constellation Energy Group

As Maryland energy regulators prepare to review next week Constellation Energy Group's plan to sell itself to Exelon Corp., the Baltimore energy company posted Friday a $74 million profit in the third quarter. The Baltimore company earned 36 cents per share for the three months ending Sept. 30, reversing a loss from a year ago. A year earlier, the company reported a net loss of $1.4 million, or $6.99 per share, after taking large write-downs to reflect the reduced value of its nuclear power business and the cancellation of its nuclear development venture with French partner EDF. The company said third-quarter earnings were hurt in part by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s cleanup costs related to Hurricane Irene.

Constellation said Thursday that it is giving Teach For America $1 million for efforts in Baltimore over the next four years, from training teachers to helping program alumni fight poverty. The Baltimore division of Chicago-based Exelon Corp. said it has donated about $465,000 to Teach For America since 1994. Exelon agreed to donate an average of $7 million a year in Maryland for a decade as part of its acquisition of Constellation Energy Group. Constellation said its CEO, Kenneth Cornew, is guest-teaching in a science class at East Baltimore's Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School Thursday in honor of Teach For America Week.

Falling electricity prices will mean lower-than-expected profits next year for Constellation Energy Group, the company said Friday as it announced first-quarter financial results. "Because power prices are going down, the generation plants are realizing lower levels of revenue," Constellation CEO Mayo A. Shattuck III said in an interview. "Really, across the industry, you're seeing companies having to lower earnings projections from generation plants because the forward power curve has come down so much."

In the year since Exelon Corp. acquired Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group, the company has donated more than $300,000 to first-responders in the region. It is handing out thousands of free trees to Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers. It is helping fund energy-efficient homes for low-income residents. That's much like the year before the merger, nonprofits say. "They're carrying out their volunteer commitments at a very high level," said Elise Lee, chief development officer for United Way of Central Maryland.

Constellation Energy Group dominated the list of the most highly paid local executives in 2007, a year in which the company's stock price rose nearly 50 percent. Leaders at the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. parent accounted for four of the top 10 - and more than $40 million in compensation combined. Topping all other executives at publicly traded companies was Constellation Chief Executive Officer Mayo A. Shattuck III, who earned about $14 million last year in salary, stock awards, options and the like.

Constellation said Thursday that it is giving Teach For America $1 million for efforts in Baltimore over the next four years, from training teachers to helping program alumni fight poverty. The Baltimore division of Chicago-based Exelon Corp. said it has donated about $465,000 to Teach For America since 1994. Exelon agreed to donate an average of $7 million a year in Maryland for a decade as part of its acquisition of Constellation Energy Group. Constellation said its CEO, Kenneth Cornew, is guest-teaching in a science class at East Baltimore's Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School Thursday in honor of Teach For America Week.

Constellation Energy Group said yesterday that it will build a $130 million natural gas-fired power plant near Chicago, continuing the biggest construction program in the history of the company. The 300-megawatt plant is expected to begin operating by July 2001, said Michael W. Delaney, spokesperson for Constellation Energy Group Inc. "There is a specific need in the Midwest and in the Chicago region for wholesale energy," Delaney said. "There's a consumer demand for electricity in the Midwest, and it makes strategic sense for Constellation to control the output of power in that region."

Stephen R. Brunner took over yesterday as president and chief executive of Constellation Energy Partners LLC, a gas and oil production company formed by Constellation Energy Group and taken public in late 2006. Brunner, who joined the company as chief operating officer six weeks ago, replaces Felix J. Dawson, who led the company during its startup phase and will remain chairman of its board of managers. Brunner's appointment came amid a series of management changes marking the next phase in the company's development.

It is all about money. Years ago, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. under Constellation Energy Group cut their field workforce to as few humans as possible and then subcontracted much of their field work to electrical contractors. Any county government executive complaining to the legislature might as well be talking to the wall. The utilities have their lobbyist who with campaign contributions have no fear of any legislative action. BGE/Constellation top management are only interested in how big their payday is going to be when the merger takes place with Exelon Corp.

Constellation Energy Group said Thursday that it closed the acquisition of a Tulsa, Okla. natural gas company, the third deal in the past year that helps expand the Baltimore company's retail business. The $22.5 million deal adds 26,100 customers in states such as Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Wyoming and Illinois. Constellation's retail customers now total almost 1.1 million in 46 states. Last year, the company also acquired Constellation acquired MXenergy, a natural gas and electricity company, and StarTex Power, a Houston retail electricity provider.

As pay raises go, it's hard to beat a fivefold increase. That's the jump Hunt Valley-based Omega Healthcare Investors' CEO saw in compensation last year. After getting a thumbs down for its executive pay from a shareholder advisory firm, the company told investors his pay package skyrocketed to $7.8 million because stock awards at the firm are doled out once every three years or so, and 2011 was one of those years. But even with the adjustments Omega suggests, such as dividing the multiyear incentives by three, CEO C. Taylor Pickett's pay doubled — in a year in which the company's profits and stock price fell.

Exelon Corp. plans to sell its three Maryland coal-fired power plants for $400 million to a subsidiary of private equity firm Riverstone Holdings LLC, the Chicago-based energy giant said Thursday. Under the terms of the deal, buyer Raven Power Holdings LLC will maintain employment levels and offer pay and benefits comparable to those now received by the plants' 420 workers for at least two years. Exelon was required by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Maryland Public Service Commission to sell the three facilities — the Brandon Shores and H.A. Wagner plants in Anne Arundel County and the C.P. Crane plant in Baltimore County — by the end of the year as a condition of its $7.9 billion purchase of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group in March.

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.

The state outlined Friday how it proposes to spend the $113.5 million that Exelon Corp. agreed to put in a "customer investment fund" as part of its merger with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s parent. The biggest piece — $44 million — would go to weatherization services and furnace replacement for low-income residents with high energy bills. Other proposed uses include building off-the-grid public schools and helping small businesses improve their energy efficiency. The Maryland Public Service Commission approved Exelon's acquisition of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group this year on the condition that it create the investment fund with half of the merger's estimated "synergy" savings.

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)

BGE's 1.1 million residential customers will get a nice surprise in their May bill: a $100 credit on their accounts. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. announced Friday that most customers will receive the credit by the end of May. The ratepayer relief is part of the merger between BGE's parent Constellation Energy Group and Chicago-based Exelon Corp. The two companies agreed to provide the rate credit under an agreement with Maryland energy regulators, which approved the deal in February.

Constellation Energy Group Inc., the parent company of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., priced a public offering of 12 million newly issued common stock at $39.90 a share yesterday - a net value of about $471.4 million for the company. Constellation plans to use the proceeds from the public offering for general corporate purposes, investments in its merchant energy and retail energy services businesses, and repayment of certain debts, according to a statement filed yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The $245 million settlement that Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group agreed to pay is the largest of its kind to resolve allegations of market manipulation with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Details of the settlement emerged Monday, the same day Chicago-based Exelon Corp. closed on its $7.9 billion takeover of Constellation. The sale creating the largest non-utility energy provider in the United States ushers Baltimore's last Fortune 500 company out of town. The New York Stock Exchange will de-list Constellation shares Tuesday.

Constellation Energy Group and Exelon Corp. are expected to close their $7.9 billion merger Monday, after the deal cleared its final regulatory hurdle Friday. The approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ends an almost yearlong effort to combine the companies — creating the largest non-utility energy provider in the United States. The deal also means that Baltimore will lose its last Fortune 500 company; the new company will be headquartered in Chicago but will maintain a large footprint here, including a new building in Harbor Point.