Wall Street responded favorably to word of the proposal. Constellation's stock rose $4.83 a share, closing at $61.10. FPL's stock advanced only slightly, closing at $43 a share, up 13 cents.

The news came one day after executives from Florida Power & Light Co., the state's largest electric company, told The Palm Beach Post that the 2005 hurricane season would cost between $800 million and $900 million. The company plans to ask state utility regulators for permission to sell bonds, which customers would pay back over a 10- or 11-year period with an average monthly surcharge of $1.60.

But whether it's $11 billion or another amount, the money that FPL Group uses to buy Constellation Energy would not come out of the pockets of the utility company's 4.3 million residential and business customers. FPL Group instead would probably issue new shares of stock as well as borrow the money from large investment companies.

"Nobody is expecting Florida ratepayers to fund the acquisition of a Baltimore business," said David Parker, a Tampa-based utility analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co., who said the merger would have little effect on the utility's customers here.

"You're really not going to see much here," Parker said. "Most of the change, if anything, would be in its unregulated side of the business, which is outside of Florida, so I wouldn't expect to see much impact, if anything."

FPL Group's unregulated unit, FPL Energy, operates power plants in other states. These so-called merchant plants sell the power they produce on the open market and do not have rates set by a utilities commission.

Analysts say the merger, which would need the approval of shareholders and federal regulators, could be complete in 12 to 18 months. The Florida Public Service Commission does not have any authority over utility mergers, spokesman Kevin Bloom said.

The deal would make FPL a utility giant with operations from Maine to Florida on the East Coast, as well as throughout the United States. FPL Energy owns solar and wind operations across much of the Midwest and Southwest as well as a nuclear power plant in Seabrook, N.H.

"They would be much bigger, particularly in the Northeast," Parker said. "FPL can operate plants better than anyone else, and they will bring that expertise."

Constellation's roots go back nearly 200 years, to a company that later became Baltimore Gas & Electric, the nation's first electric company. Constellation built Maryland's first nuclear power plant, at Calvert Cliffs in the southern part of the state, in 1975.

The company later began pursuing independent power plants and eventually became the nation's top seller of wholesale power.

"Constellation is a well-run company with a good team," said Parker, who said the same about FPL. "Wall Street likes the company, and it would only get better, and FPL would only get better, if this happens."

Adding the 10 power plants of Constellation Energy, which have a total generating capacity of 12,000 megawatts, would more than double FPL's power capacity, said Tim Winter, a St. Louis-based analyst with A.G. Edwards & Sons.

The deal also would significantly strengthen FPL's nuclear power production, something that Florida Power & Light President Armando Olivera told The Post on Tuesday he'd like to see.

"FPL would be far better off with more coal and more nuclear," he said, referring to the utility, which gets about 38 percent of its fuel from natural gas and 20 percent from nuclear power.

Both FPL and Constellation are a part of NuStart LLC, a group of utilities that is planning to build the nation's first nuclear plant in 30 years.

"You could have a nuclear team that would create synergies," Winter said.

This isn't the first time FPL has tried to buy a major utility company. The company agreed to buy Entergy Corp. of New Orleans in 2000, but the plan fell apart in the closing stages after FPL said it was unhappy with Entergy's financials, and Entergy executives countered that the merger was looking more like a hostile takeover.

News of the failed merger, which was called off in 2002, hung around for nearly two more years, after five shareholders sued eight former and current executives of FPL Group to return the $62 million they received in bonuses for the deal. Both sides settled in August 2004 when executives agreed to return $22.25 million to FPL.

The FPL-Constellation deal is the fifth merger of utility companies to be discussed nationally during the past 12 months.

"It's perfectly logical," said Winter, who, along with other analysts said he couldn't confirm the deal was taking place. "FPL has long been considered an acquirer."