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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2021 |
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Federal Commission Agrees With OPC That Delmarva Power Failed to Show Control Center Plan Complies With Law
BALTIMORE – The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this week agreed with the Office of People’s Counsel that Maryland utility Delmarva Power & Light failed to show that its plan to consolidate its control centers with affiliated utilities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware complied with the law. FERC said the utility failed to demonstrate that the plan met the “just and reasonable” legal standard and that the resulting rates “may be unjust, unreasonable, unduly discriminatory or preferential, or otherwise unlawful.”
Delmarva’s filing sought to modify the transmission rates customers pay after the consolidation. Under the utility’s proposal, after consolidation, Delmarva’s annual expenses would increase by $3.1 million, which it asserted was less than they would otherwise. OPC’s protest of the rate increase—made jointly with consumer groups in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—argued that the Exelon utilities’ proposal included costs that should not be included in customer rates.
The ruling is the second setback in less than six months for Delmarva Power’s parent company, Illinois-based utility holding company Exelon. In August, FERC agreed with OPC’s protest of a similar plan involving Maryland utilities Pepco and Baltimore Gas & Electric. In both cases, the federal agency concluded that OPC raised issues regarding the proposed rate changes that were sufficiently important to be addressed at an evidentiary hearing.
“FERC made the right decision because Delmarva failed to show that its proposed rate increase is consistent with laws protecting customers from paying unreasonable rates,” said Maryland People’s Counsel David S. Lapp. “We will follow through to make sure that customers pay no more than they should as Delmarva shifts operations to other Exelon subsidiaries.”
The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel is an independent state agency that represents Maryland’s residential consumers of electric, natural gas, telecommunications, private water and certain transportation matters before the Public Service Commission, federal regulatory agencies and the courts.
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