Exelon has proven itself

Some two years ago, Exelon merged with Constellation, raising strong concerns among many Maryland officials and residents. Despite Exelon's pledge to improve reliability and increase investment in Maryland, opponents feared the deal was going to harm consumers and the state. By any measure, Exelon has proven the critics wrong.

This week, many of those same critics lined up in opposition to Exelon's proposed merger with Pepco Holdings Inc. ("Concerns and opposition in proposed Exelon-Pepco merger," Dec. 9). But unlike two years ago, Exelon now has a track record that we can use to evaluate whether this merger will lead to the promised reliability and economic benefits.

Here is what we know. Since Exelon came to Maryland, BGE's reliability — in terms of the number and length of power outages — and customer satisfaction have risen to their best levels in its history. And the average residential electric rate is lower today than it was in 2008. As this newspaper has reported, the company has met and exceeded its commitment to maintain contributions to local nonprofits and the company is on record as saying it will invest $3 billion in BGE from 2014 to 2018. That's on top of the $3 billion it spent on its electric and gas systems over the previous five years.

As part of the Constellation merger, Exelon also pledged to invest in clean energy. As of today, the company has broken ground on 120 megawatts of new gas-fired generation in Harford County and is considering building up to 20 megawatts of solar energy on the same site. If completed, it will be the largest solar facility in Maryland — a distinction currently held by the 16.1 megawatt solar facility Constellation built at Mount St. Mary's College in Frederick County. In addition, the company has two new wind projects in development and three more in the pipeline.

As part of the Pepco Holdings merger, Exelon has pledged to build on this progress by committing to significant reliability improvements. It has said it will accept a financial penalty if it falls short of this goal and it has also offered significant financial benefits including $170 million in direct savings to Maryland customers over the next 10 years.

As the representative of more than 700 Maryland businesses statewide, the Maryland Chamber of Commerce has a major stake in ensuring that these benefits are realized. An affordable and reliable electric grid is a critical component in our state's economic competitiveness.

With so much at stake, it's right that the Maryland Public Service Commission and other stakeholders take a hard look at what this merger will mean for consumers. But it's also clear that Exelon has been a reliable partner, and it has the track record to prove it.

Brien Poffenberger, Annapolis

The writer is president and CEO of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce.