The bigger they are, the harder they are to get together. That’s what Exelon Corp. and Pepco Holdings discovered as they have tried to merge over the last two years. But on Wednesday, the two overcame the final regulatory hurdle.
It’s a $6.8 billion dollar deal that gives Chicago-based Exelon a foothold in eastern markets it would not otherwise have: Washington, D.C., Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. But it gives the powerhouse something else — a diversified energy portfolio, which will include income from regulated operations that will offset the losses it has suffered on its unregulated merchant nuclear plants.
The deal had gotten the Okay from all prior regulators that include the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other state utility commissions. But the District of Columbia had been especially concerned about the impact the deal would have on low income residents and giving up local control to an out-of-state utility. At the same time, environmentalists said the deal was not green enough.
To get it through, the utilities made concessions, essentially saying that they would freeze rates for about three years. The utilities have thus offered to put up about $25 million into a fund to give its customers rate relief and another $20 million into a fund that would allow the public service commission to make grid updates, or use as it pleases. 

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