Constellation

Maryland regulators agreed Friday to postpone their decision on the $7.9 billion merger of Constellation Energy Group and Exelon Corp. until Feb. 17, giving themselves more time to evaluate a proposed settlement between the companies and Gov. Martin O'Malley. The extension of the deadline, which was initially set for Jan. 5, was expected after Exelon and Constellation agreed this week to $1 billion in concessions to gain the governor's support for the buyout. The companies promised to provide large renewable energy generation in Maryland, make significant investment for offshore wind development and add money to help low-income electricity customers.

In a settlement with Gov. Martin O'Malley over the proposed buyout of Constellation Energy Group, Exelon Corp. has promised to develop significantly more natural gas, wind and solar power in Maryland, give more money to help low-income customers and provide more protections for Baltimore Gas and Electric. O'Malley said Wednesday evening that by agreeing to sweeten its commitments to Maryland, Chicago-based Exelon has gained his support. He had opposed the $7.9 billion buyout as it was originally structured.

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...

An Exelon executive would run the business unit that would remain in Baltimore if the proposed merger between Constellation Energy Group and Exelon Corp. is approved, Chicago-based Exelon said Wednesday. Under the merger, Constellation Energy's growing retail and wholesale power-selling businesses, known as NewEnergy, would retain the Constellation brand name. Exelon's similar business in Pennsylvania would join the group in Baltimore. Kenneth W. Cornew, a senior vice president and president of Exelon Power Team, would become the combined company's executive vice president and chief commercial officer as well as chief executive officer of Constellation.

By Maryland law, for the merger of Exelon and Constellation Energy to be permissible, it must be shown to cause no harm, and to benefit Baltimore Gas & Electric ratepayers and the public interest. Because, to date, Exelon has yet to offer a proposal that sufficiently meets these three thresholds, my administration cannot support the merger at this time. While the state of Maryland stands to lose 600 jobs post-merger, Constellation executives stand to make $34 million off the transaction.

Critics of the Constellation Energy Group-Exelon Corp. merger called Monday for doubling the rate credit for utility customers to $200, even as the companies offered other concessions, including building a new downtown Baltimore headquarters. The companies, whose $7.9 billion merger largely hinges on approval by state energy regulators, sweetened their incentive package to make the deal more palatable to the Maryland Public Service Commission, the state and consumer advocates. The PSC, charged with ensuring that the deal is in the public interest and will benefit ratepayers, is expected to make a decision by Jan. 5. The companies offered more commitments Monday, in filings that amount to final arguments on the merits of the proposed deal.

Constellation Energy Group has agreed to acquire a Tulsa, Okla., natural gas company for $22.5 million, the Baltimore company announced Thursday. The proposed purchase of ONEOK Energy Marketing Co. would be the third acquisition this year that helps expand Constellation's retail business. ONEOK's 26,100 customers would bring Constellation's total retail consumers to almost 1.1 million. ONEOK does business in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Wyoming and Illinois. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012.

Several community groups in the Baltimore region expressed support for Constellation Energy Group's plan to sell itself to Chicago-based Exelon Corp. at a public hearing Tuesday in Bel Air. The lightly attended hearing was the first of three public comment hearings to be held by the Maryland Public Service Commission, which is reviewing the $7.9 billion deal. The next public hearings are scheduled for Thursday in Baltimore and Dec. 5 in Annapolis. Many of the two dozen people attending Tuesday's hearing were officials from Constellation and Exelon, attorneys representing the two firms and consumer advocates.

They feel forgotten in the expensive and lengthy proceeding to sell Constellation Energy, Baltimore's last Fortune 500 company, to Chicago-based Exelon. If the merger goes through, 425 employees at several Maryland power generation plants owned by Constellation would find themselves working not for Exelon but for some unknown third party. For all the uncertainty associated with the deal, everybody else at Constellation knows their future employer's identity and can try to draw conclusions.

The Illinois Attorney General's Office has renewed its request to federal energy regulators for a hearing on Constellation Energy Group's plan to sell itself to Chicago-based Exelon Corp. In a brief filed Tuesday, Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the $7.9 billion deal would raise rates for customers of Exelon's ComEd utility, citing testimony by the company's executives during regulatory hearings before the Maryland Public Service Commission. The Illinois attorney general's office is among several groups that have objected to the deal on the grounds that the combined company would have two much control of electricity prices on the grid that serves much of the mid-Atlantic region.