Pa. gets recommendation to approve utility merger Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Pennsylvania judge recommended that state regulators approve the merger of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. and Exelon Corp., a union that would create the country's largest power-generation company. The 59-page recommendation by the administrative law judge, Marlane R. Chestnut, was filed with the state Public Utility Commission, which will take public comments for a month before making a final decision, a PUC spokeswoman said. The new company would provide power to 18 million people in Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Peco Energy Co., a subsidiary of the Chicago-based Exelon, provides gas and electric service in southeastern Pennsylvania. PSEG is based in Newark, N.J. The recommendation, released Wednesday, was issued after nearly nine months of hearings and settlement talks among at least a dozen parties that had filed protests or petitions to intervene, including the city of Philadelphia, labor and advocacy groups, and the state Department of Environmental Protection. Most joined a settlement with Exelon and PSEG that was submitted to Chestnut. The proposed merger "is in the public interest, provides substantial, affirmative benefits, and is not likely to result in anticompetitive or discriminatory conduct or the unlawful exercise of market power in the retail electric and natural gas markets," Chestnut wrote in the decision dated Nov. 22. Protests to the merger did not amount to "a sufficient basis" to reject or change the agreement, the judge wrote. Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, PSEG shares fell 41 cents to close at $62.72, and Exelon shares fell 35 cents to close at $52.04. ON THE NET Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission: http://www.puc.state.pa.us To subscribe or visit go to: http://www.grandforks.com/ GrandForksHerald.com |