By Suzanne Herel
A Maryland circuit court judge Friday upheld the state Public Service Commission’s approval of Exelon’s acquisition of Pepco Holdings Inc., denying an appeal led by the Office of People’s Counsel.
“The court’s scrutiny has revealed Order 86990 to be the product of substantial evidence supporting the conclusions and was clearly a rational review of the evidence by reasoning minds,” Judge Thomas G. Ross ruled.
The Office of People’s Counsel was joined in the appeal by the Sierra Club, Chesapeake Climate Action Network and Public Citizen. The parties had asked for the judicial review after Ross denied their request to stay the commission’s 3-2 decision. (See Md. Judge Denies Stay in Exelon-Pepco Deal.)
The petitioners had the support of Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, who filed a friend of the court brief asking that the merger decision be reconsidered.
People’s Counsel Paula Carmody could not be reached for comment Friday evening.
Exelon issued a statement saying it was “gratified” by the ruling.
“The commission correctly found that our merger proposal meets the requirements of Maryland law. The merger is in the public interest and provides direct, immediate and long-term benefits to customers, enhances reliability, promotes the growth of clean energy and increases Delmarva Power and Pepco’s roles as community partners.”
The petitioners asked the court to review five questions, among them whether the commission’s decision could be considered arbitrary because of its “unexplained conclusion that allegations of harm to the distributed generation and renewable energy markets were ‘speculative.’”
They also questioned the decision on several procedural matters and asked whether the PSC’s “failure to consider the acquisition premium in assessing the ‘no harm,’ ‘benefits’ and ‘public interest’ requirements of the Public Utilities article constitute an error of law.”
In the 12-page ruling, Ross shot down all of the concerns, saying the PSC had properly considered each issue. He sided with the commission in its opinion that merger opponents had “failed to articulate concrete examples” of public harm resulting from the deal.
D.C. is the last jurisdiction standing in the way of the $6.8 billion merger. The district’s Public Service Commission initially rejected the merger but agreed to reconsider the proposal after Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration brokered a settlement.
Last month, the General Services Administration — the district’s largest consumer of electricity — filed a brief with the PSC saying the merger should be rejected unless it is retooled to include benefits for commercial customers. (See GSA Opposes Exelon-Pepco Settlement.)
The PSC is expected to make a ruling early this year. The deal has already been approved by FERC and regulators in Delaware, New Jersey and Virginia.