By a 3 to 2 vote, the Maryland Public Service Commission approved the merger of Pepco Holdings with Exelon. That was followed on Tuesday by approval from the Delaware PSC, the News Journal reported.
There was no immediate comment on the Delaware decision by Delmarva or the Delaware PSC.
The merger would give Exelon control of a vast stretch of territory extending from Washington, DC though the Philadelphia area. (PECO) and the Jersey Shore (Pepco’s Atlantic City Electric).
The BG&E system has been book-ended by Pepco’s Delmarva , which operates Delmarva Power on the Eastern Shore and Delaware, and PEPCO, which operates in Washington, D.C. and its Maryland suburbs.
Potomac Edison serves the western area of Maryland and some rural areas are served by cooperative like Choptank Electric on the Eastern Shore.
The merger was met with stiff opposition in Maryland, with the Sierra Club and other environmental organizations worried that Exelon would throttle alternative energy efforts.
Exelon has vowed to wall off its utility and generation businesses to avoid conflicts.
Exelon operates the nation’s largest collection of nuclear power plants, but does not own coal-fired generators. It also operates Conowingo Dam and its hydroelectric pant on the Susquehanna River between Harford and Cecil counties .
The response to the proposed merger has been far more muted in Delaware, with the Sierra Club focusing on more local issues like the wastewater plan for Rehoboth beach, the Delaware City Refinery and the now-dead Data Centers/power plant project in Newark.
The merger still await approval by the Delaware Public Service Commission and Washington, D.C. regulators. However, the approval by Maryland regulators was the key to the transaction.
“In this Order we approve the merger of Exelon and Pepco Holdings, Inc. because, simply put, the evidence demonstrates that Delmarva and Pepco will be better utilities because of the merger, and that the statutory requirements are satisfied,” the order stated. “Exelon has demonstrated that it knows how to run electric and gas distribution companies; indeed it is nationally recognized for its standards of excellence, and Maryland’s consumers will be better off for it.”
The looming retirement of Pepco’s CEO and regulatory struggles in Delaware and Maryland are believed to have played a role in the merger that had been anticipated for decades, even when Delmarva Power and BG&E were freestanding companies.
The Delaware PSC had been critical of the amount of spending for Delmarva Power’s system and issued a rate increase that was far smaller than the amount sought by the utility.
