Montgomery County says its settlement with Pepco and Exelon was a good deal, despite criticism from the County Council that the agreement won’t prevent electricity rate hikes.
“The status quo with Pepco is unacceptable. The alternative to this settlement is not necessarily something better,” said Patrick Lacefield, spokesperson for County Executive Isiah Leggett. “The alternative could well be no deal at all. Then county residents are stuck with the status quo. [Leggett] doesn’t want that and neither do county residents.”
Leggett and Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker agreed to the deal last week.
In exchange for the counties’ support of Exelon and Pepco’s merger bid before state regulators, the utilities promised $57.6 million for energy efficiency programs, bill credits for Pepco customers, five megawatts of solar power generation, a $50 million “Green Sustainability Fund,” and recreational trails along Pepco transmission lines.
But Councilmember Roger Berliner, an energy attorney part of a group involved in the merger deliberations, said the deal should have also guaranteed “our ratepayers should not be pawns in Exelon’s desire to prop up its nuclear power plants.”
Some fear the Chicago-based utility is purchasing Pepco Holdings Inc. to help finance its large fleet of nuclear power plants, which experts say are losing money because of lower natural gas costs.
Earlier this week, Berliner introduced a Council resolution against the county’s settlement with Pepco and Exelon. He also said that during a meeting with Leggett a few weeks ago, Council members urged Leggett not to proceed with the deal.
“It was simply the wrong deal,” Berliner said.
“We listened to the County Council. We took their views into account,” Lacefield said. “We made this decision in the public interest to change the status quo. It is an executive decision.”
The $6.8 billion merger, which would put all of Pepco Holding Inc.’s utilities in four states and D.C. under the control of Exelon, has been approved by federal regulators and regulators in New Jersey and Virginia. The Maryland Public Service Commission is expected to rule on the merger in April.
