Press Conference Thursday: Regional Opposition to Exelon’s Takeover of Pepco Is Strong
Feb. 4, 2015
Press Conference Thursday: Regional Opposition to Exelon’s Takeover of Pepco Is Strong
As Key Maryland Hearings Conclude in Baltimore, Public Interest Advocates Gather in Front of Exelon’s Downtown Office for 11 a.m. Press Conference
WHAT: A press conference to show regional solidarity against the highly contested Exelon-Pepco electric utility merger. Representatives from Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C., organizations will explain why the $6.8 billion proposed takeover of Pepco Holdings Inc. by Exelon should be blocked. The event is timed to coincide with the closing days of evidentiary hearings in Maryland and the beginning of evidentiary hearings in Washington, D.C., and Delaware later this month.
Under the merger, Exelon, a Chicago-based Fortune 500 company, would gain control over the utility market for Washington, D.C., and the Maryland suburbs, as well as parts of Delaware and New Jersey. Many experts believe the merger would increase electricity prices for residents and local businesses. It also would do nothing to improve electric service reliability. Additionally, Exelon would gain increased political and economic influence, and likely would reverse substantial progress on creating reliable and local renewable energy.
The D.C. Office of the People’s Counsel and the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel strongly oppose the proposed merger, as do the Maryland Energy Administration and almost all of the state’s leading environmental organizations. The Delaware, Maryland and D.C. Public Service Commissions have not approved the deal; a vote against it by any one of the agencies could block it.
WHEN: 11 a.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 5
WHERE: Outside Exelon building, 750 E. Pratt St., Baltimore
WHO: Anya Schoolman, executive director, Community Power Network
Delvone Michael, director, D.C. Working Families
Tyson Slocum, director, Public Citizen’s Energy Program and intervener in Exelon-Pepco merger case before the Maryland Public Service Commission
Logan Welde, staff attorney, Clean Air Council
Emily Scarr, director, Maryland PIRG
James McGarry, chief policy analyst, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Bruce Burcat, executive director, Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, served for nearly 15 years as the executive director of the Delaware Public Service Commission
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