Berliner Wants To See Improved Performance Required In Pepco Merger

Councilmember Roger Berliner (file photo)One of Pepco’s most frequent critics wants to see reliability requirements and newer energy models incorporated into Pepco’s merger with Exelon.

County Councilmember Roger Berliner, an energy lawyer who heads the Council’s Infrastructure Committee, said the Maryland Public Service Commission should only approve Pepco’s sale to Exelon if there are “binding commitments to superb reliability and better service to our long-suffering constituents.”

Exelon announced on Tuesday it had formally submitted an application for approval of the merger to the PSC, the five-member committee that regulates all utilities in the state.

In it, Exelon claimed the merger would mean cutting the frequency of power outages in Pepco’s Maryland service areas by 38 percent and cutting the average outage duration by 43 percent by the 2018-2020 period. Exelon offered to be subject to financial penalties if Pepco or Delmarva Power don’t meet those goals.

In a prepared statement, Berliner said “it is a fundamental responsibility of our state regulators to determine whether this proposed merger — which will result in a single utility totally dominating the state — is in the public interest.”

“Our Council has formally stated that should the Commission conclude it is in the public interest, it could only do so with binding commitments to superb reliability and better service to our long-suffering constituents,” Berliner said.

The resolution the Council approved in May says the PSC should require “that Exelon provide substantial ratepayer benefits, including, but not limited to, quality of service equivalent to a top quartile utility within three years, and that cost recovery for investments necessary to achieve that outcome be tied to performance.”

Berliner again asked the PSC to include aspects of the “Utility 2.0″ concept in any merger approval.

Last March, Berliner submitted a formal filing asking PSC regulators to push Pepco toward a more modern electric system that includes locally-sourced micro-grids. Berliner argued modernization should be included in the PSC’s recent effort to make utilities more reliable by requiring short-term and long-term reliability plans.

“That is what our constituents want and deserve,” Berliner said in the statement on Tuesday. “If the Commission finds that the merger is in the public interest, then the Commission should insist that Maryland and Exelon be a leader in the country in adopting Utility 2.0.”

He also said he expects Montgomery County to take part in what’s expected to be a lengthy set of regulatory proceedings judging the merger.

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