Regulator approves Exelon's takeover of Pepco

On Wednesday, the district regulators approved a merger between Pepco Holdings and Exelon Corporation.

Exelon Corp.'s proposed $6.8 billion takeover of Pepco Holdings Inc. was approved by Washington regulators, clearing the way for the companies to form the nation's biggest utility nearly two years after the deal was first announced.

The Bowser-brokered deal had earmarked money from the CIF for a handful of D.C. groups, including the Sustainable Energy Trust Fund, the District of Columbia Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Green Building Fund and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

Removing a provision that designates Exelon as the developer of a 5-megawatt solar generation facility at D.C. Water, and requiring Pepco to facilitate the interconnection through a competitive process.

In Delaware, negotiators secured an agreement for a $40 million, one-time customer bill credit that would amount to about $128 per customer, to be booked 60 days after the merger closes.

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Exelon's alternate proposal, known as option 3, put together a $45.6 million fund, with $25.6 million for residential rate credits and another $20 million to be used at the PSC's discretion.

Compared to other peers in the Diversified Utilities sector, Exelon hasn't performed in terms of quarterly revenue growth year over year at -0.08 vs. the industry average of 0.06.

But the Community Power Network, a group that promotes local renewable energy projects, released a statement Wednesday stating it was "profoundly disappointed and saddened" about the deal.

"Should option three be rejected, the merger is likely to collapse", they said. There are no protections for consumers in the D.C. approved terms that would prevent the new utility from seeking an immediate increase. Churchill Management increased its position in shares of Pepco Holdings by 115.2% in the fourth quarter. At the time, the PSC said the deal would result in automatic approval if the four new conditions were adopted by all the settlement parties. The company operates through Power Delivery and Pepco Energy Services segments. Discussions of some of these other important factors and assumptions are contained in Exelon's and PHI's respective filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, including: (1) Exelon's 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K in (a) ITEM 1A. If so, that could offer opponents such as Maryland's attorney general another opportunity to try to stop the merger.

Recently stock market analysts have updated their consensus ratings on shares of PEPCO Holdings, Inc. Pepco Holdings includes Pepco (nee Potomac Electric Power Co.), which serves most of D.C. and a substantial portion of the Maryland suburbs; Atlantic City Electric in New Jersey; and Delmarva Power, serving much of the Delmarva Peninsula.