Dive Brief:

• Power D.C., a coalition of 20 groups, including the Sierra Club, the D.C. Environmental Network, Public Citizen, D.C. Working Families and the Statehood Green Party, wants District of Columbia regulators to investigate the $6.8 billion merger of Pepco, the District’s local utility, with national power producer Exelon.
• Power D.C. said Exelon’s nationally-focused corporate investments in fossil and nuclear sources of electricity generation are not aligned with the local policy objectives using more locally generated renewables and energy efficiency.
• Exelon and Pepco say the merger is in the public interest because it will bring $100 million in benefits like bill credits and efficiency improvements to Pepco customers in D.C., Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. It will also, they say, improve system reliability, fund hardening against storms, and offer new opportunities for Pepco employees.

Dive Insight:

People’s Counsel Sandra Mattavous-Frye, a public ratepayer advocate, said recently the deal threatens the system’s reliability, rate stability, and commitment to renewables.

Exelon has this year publicly opposed supports for wind and solar in defense of its underused fleet of nuclear plants.

Chris Weiss of the D.C. Environmental Network said this is antithetical to the District’s ambitious renewable energy goals and its citywide sustainability plan.

James Dinegar, president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, said the Exelon merger will allow Pepco to recommit to reliability and characterized the opposition to it as nostalgia in the face of “growth, progress and success.”