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June 13, 2005
 
With state, federal regulators to decide this month on hearings in mega-energy merger…

Growing Coalition Opposing Exelon-PSEG Merger Launching Grassroots Lobbying Campaign To Call For Public Hearings

Nation’s Largest Union, SEIU, and PSE&G Workers Join Forces with Consumer Groups to “Fight the Power Grab”

Trenton, NJ (June 13, 2005) – The nation’s largest labor union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced today that it will join forces with a growing consumer coalition opposing the proposed buy-out of PSEG by Exelon Corporation of Chicago.  The groups announced the launch today of “Fight the Power Grab,” a grassroots lobbying campaign to call for open and accountable public hearings by state and federal regulators on the proposed merger.
 
SEIU, with 28,000 members in the state, and Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Local 601, which represents 1,350 PSE&G workers, are teaming up with a consumer coalition led by Public Citizen, NJ PIRG Law and Policy Center, and NJ Citizen Action to oppose the proposed merger and call for open hearings.

“We want to pull the plug on the Exelon-PSEG merger to protect our member consumers from higher energy costs,” said Kevin Brown, President of SEIU NJ State Council. “SEIU is prepared to aggressively pursue our goal of open and accountable hearings and reliable and affordable energy for New Jersey residents.”

"With energy prices seeming to rise almost every day, New Jersey can ill-afford to subsidize the kind of sweetheart deals that corporate executives reap from giant mergers and acquisitions especially when, like this one, there is still no evidence of actual, substantive benefits for ratepayers," said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, New Jersey Citizen Action's Executive Director.  "This PSE&G buy-out is a bad deal for any consumer who has to pay an electric bill, from the person who wants to turn their lights on at home to our small business owners and our largest industries --and should be rejected at FERC and by the BPU."

The coalition is launching a grassroots advocacy campaign that will include:
• lobbying of elected officials at the state and federal level, including the gubernatorial candidates;
• outreach and education to community members and state organizations;
• display and online advertising – display ads ran today in the Newark Star-Ledger and the Trenton Times sponsored by SEIU;
• direct mail;
• statewide phone-banking operations;
• a new website – www.FightthePowerGrab.org;
• statewide e-mail campaigns calling on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to hold open and accountable hearings and reliable and affordable energy for New Jersey residents; and
• legal intervention in NJ Board of Public Utility proceedings.

The groups released letters today to the New Jersey congressional delegation and Senators outlining their opposition to the merger and urging the elected officials to weigh in with the regulatory agencies and call for hearings.

“New Jersey’s consumers shouldn’t buy Exelon’s deal to create the largest, most powerful energy company in the nation. If Exelon is allowed to swallow up PSEG, they will have a stranglehold over electricity prices in the region, leading to higher rates for New Jersey consumers.  As the voice of New Jersey’s electricity consumers, the state Board of Public Utilities should reject Exelon’s proposal,” said Dena Mottola, Executive Director of NJPIRG Law and Policy Center.

FERC will announce by the end of June whether or not it will hold hearings on the merger.  Exelon has pressured regulators to waive a full hearing to expedite closing the $12 billion deal.  NJBPU has put out a schedule for hearings later this summer.   There is a hearing June 22 by the NJBPU to decide whether or not the companies will be forced to demonstrate a positive benefit to state consumers from the deal.  The groups are urging the NJBPU to reject the merger if the companies do not demonstrate a positive benefit for state consumers.

Exelon and PSEG executives met privately with all four Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioners in January of this year, just after the companies publically announced their intent to merge in December 2004. These secret meetings call into question the ability of FERC’s unelected government officials to provide sufficient independent oversight and protect the public interest.

“The public is forced to speculate about the content and impact of these secret meetings because the conversations are not part of the public record,” said Tyson Slocum, Research Director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program. “While the CEOs enjoy private access to government decisionmakers, the public isn’t yet assured that FERC will even hold a public hearing. We are here to remind FERC that their first obligation is to serve the public—and not to simply rubber stamp requests by well-connected corporations.”

Background for Reporters

New Jersey Citizen Action is the state's largest independent citizen watchdog coalition representing 60,000 family members and more than 100 affiliated labor, tenant, senior citizen, faith-based, environmental and community organizations.  NJCA works to protect and expand the rights of individuals and families, and to ensure that government officials respond to the needs of people rather than the interests of those with money and power. (www.njcitizenaction.org)

Public Citizen is a nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer rights organization based in Washington, DC with over 17,000 dues-paying individual members in Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Our Energy Program does extensive work at the federal and state levels to promote energy policies that best protect consumers.  (www.citizen.org)

New Jersey PIRG is a non-profit public interest advocacy organization representing with over 26,000 New Jersey residents. NJPIRG’s mission is to deliver persistent, result-oriented public interest activism that protects our environment, encourages a fair, sustainable economy, and fosters responsive, democratic government.  We uncover threats to public health and well-being and fight to end them, using the time-tested tools of investigative research, media exposés, grassroots organizing, advocacy and litigation. (www.njpirg.org)

The 1.8 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is the nation's largest and fastest growing union.  Its 28,000 members in New Jersey are city and municipal workers, interns and residents at hospitals, janitors, homecare workers, nursing home workers, and the workers at Parsons who conduct the annual inspections of cars for the state of NJ.  (www.seiunj.org)

Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Local 601 represents 1,350 PSE&G workers, as well as employees of NJ Transit. (www.Local601.org)

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