By Suzanne Herel

One party to the Exelon-Pepco Holdings Inc. merger case has asked the D.C. Public Service Commission to reconsider its approval, and the People’s Counsel said she’s considering doing the same.

Grid 2.0, which advocates for distributed generation, and did not sign on to any proposed settlement in the case, said in a March 25 filing that the commission failed to give adequate notice of public hearings and did not provide support for its finding that the settlement it crafted itself was in the public interest.

“The commission … failed to make any independent finding that the revised settlement agreement is in the public interest,” it said, calling the PSC’s conclusion “arbitrary and capricious.”

The nine settling parties, who approved an initial agreement that was later amended by the commission, have until April 22 to file an application for reconsideration with the PSC. Four other groups that intervened but did not sign on to the settlement also have the opportunity to appeal the decision.

The joint applicants responded to the filing, saying “every part of Grid 2.0’s argument is wrong.”

“The commission approved the merger after two years of the most exhaustive consideration that the commission has ever given to any issue, and it did so based on one of the most extensive records the commission has ever compiled,” they said.

D.C. People’s Counsel Sandra Mattavous-Frye said last week on the Kojo Nnamdi radio show that she is reviewing the ruling with an eye toward issues that might warrant her office taking action.

“I do have some major concerns about the process throughout the case. You didn’t really know what to expect or how the commission came to its determination,” she said. “It’s not over until it’s over. But I do admit that the lift is going to be heavier at this junction.”

Exelon and Pepco closed the $6.8 billion transaction just hours after the PSC approved the deal on March 23. (See Exelon Closes Pepco Merger Following OK from PSC.)

Mattavous-Frye cited “uncertainty created by the commission’s plan,” specifically how it plans to use $32.8 million of the $72.8 million customer investment fund that commissioners “redirected … for themselves without any clear explanation of how those funds will be used.”

If the commission stands by its decision, parties may turn to the D.C. Court of Appeals.

The acquisition, approved on a 2-1 vote with Chairwoman Betty Ann Kane in opposition, creates the country’s largest utility by customer count.

In an interview last week with the Washington Business Journal, Exelon CEO Chris Crane and new Pepco head David Velazquez said they would work to prove themselves to merger opponents and will be active in district affairs.