Exelon and Pepco have upped the amount of money they’ll put into a “customer investment fund” and promised quicker reliability improvements if state regulators approve their $6.8 billion merger.
The power companies offered the increased benefits in a filing with the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) on Wednesday. The PSC will decide by April 8 whether to allow the merger and if so, under what conditions.
The merger has come under fire from a D.C.-based “citizens’ advocacy” group, environmentalists, longtime critics of Pepco and a group of local elected officials, green energy companies and local municipalities called the Coalition for Utility Reform.
Exelon and Pepco hope to quell that opposition by promising to reduce the frequency and duration of power outages in Maryland beginning in 2016, instead of by the 2018-2010 three-year window as originally proposed.
If the utilities don’t achieve the proposed reliability performance targets in 2018, 2019 or 2020, it offered to be subject to non-compliance payments of up to $7.75 million over the three-year period.
Facing opposition in front of D.C.’s utility regulators, Exelon and Pepco made a similar move to beef up merger customer benefits last month.
The merger, which would put all of Pepco Holding Inc.’s utilities in four states and D.C. under the control of Chicago-based Exelon, has been approved by federal regulators and regulators in New Jersey and Virginia.
The companies have increased the money they’ll put in a Maryland “customer investment fund” to $94.4 million from $40 million. The PSC would determine if that money would be used for customer rate credits, energy efficiency efforts or assistance for low-income customers.
Pepco and Exelon have also offered to waive unpaid bills that are over three years past due “for qualifying low-income families in Maryland, as of the date of the merger closing.”
The Coalition for Utility Reform, led by Bethesda area County Councilmember Roger Berliner, also made a new filing with the PSC this week urging regulators to require renewable energy improvements.
The Coalition claimed Exelon’s reliance on nuclear power generation has led the company to oppose renewable energy initiatives and doesn’t bode well for an increase in renewable technologies from Pepco.
Berliner, a frequent critic of Pepco, is also an energy attorney.
“If the Commission chooses to allow one energy company to control 85% of the Maryland market, a company hostile to renewables, distributed energy, and energy efficiency among other things, then the Commission must insist on a precondition that the merged entity adopt the very best practices in the Pepco service territory as a “pilot” for the rest of the state, practices that simultaneously address the threat to the public interest and are, at the same time, generally recognized as the cornerstone of utilities of the future,” read the Coalition’s filing.
