Melissa Sherrod is the vice president for corporate affairs at Exelon. (AFRO File Photo)
Exelon executives recently pushed back against criticism of their pending merger with D.C. utility provider Pepco.
Melissa Sherrod, the vice president for corporate affairs at Exelon, told the AFRO on June 4 that much of the negative talk in the District by some political and civic leaders about its merger with Pepco is simply not true. Many leaders have expressed concern that Exelon, based in Chicago, won’t be sensitive to the unique needs of District rate payers, but Sherrod disputes that assessment.
“At Exelon we are committed to a local presence, local leadership and continuing to have a local headquarters in the city,” she said.
The District of Columbia Public Service Commission will decide whether to join New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in approving the merger of Exelon and Pepco on or before Aug. 25. The $6.83 billion transaction will bring several power companies—ConEd, BGE, Delmarva Power, and Pepco—under the Exelon umbrella to control energy resources and management in the nation’s Mid-Atlantic region.
The merger has the support of such leaders as former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams; Harry Wingo, president and CEO of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce; Anacostia Coordinating Council chairman Arrington Dixon; Industrial Bank President and CEO B. Doyle Mitchell; Dr. E. Faye Williams, president and CEO of the National Congress of Black Women; Cora Masters Barry, CEO of the Recreation Wish List Committee; and Rosie Allen-Herring, president and CEO of the United Way of the National Capital Area.
Sherrod said she is well aware of some concerns about the quality of service if the merger goes through.
“We are committed to providing contiguous service in the District of Columbia,” she said. “We will continue to work with other utilities if there is a catastrophe like a 9/11 event or a bad hurricane. There is a mutual assistance agreement among utility companies to borrow people and resources from other areas and that is the good thing about Exelon because all of those companies will be under one umbrella.”
Sherrod said Exelon wants to provide faster service without increasing costs to rate payers. She said that rate payers will save $51 million in 10 years because of the merger.
Pepco has been viewed as a model corporate citizen in the District for years. The company hires District residents, sponsors community events, has a diversity supplier program that has been praised by minority business leaders as inclusive, and its employees have volunteered hours of service for charities. Sherrod said that Exelon will build on what Pepco is doing in those areas.
“I have spent the last year going out to advisory neighborhood commission meetings and other organizations to explain our culture and commitment to D.C.,” she said. “Just to let you know that Exelon employees have devoted 113,000 hours of volunteerism in the communities we serve. We plan on investing $16 million in charitable contributions in D.C. charities.”
Sherrod trumpeted the success of BGE’s Focus 25 program that works to bring local, particularly minority-owned businesses, into its supplier program and inferred that a similar program may set up in the District.
She also said that low-income rate payers will have access to a $100 million Customer Investment fund that will assist them with rate credits, energy efficiency, and direct payment assistance.
“We are also devising unique programs that will meet the needs of seniors and veterans,” she said.
The issue most residents are concerned about is rate hikes. Sherrod said rate hikes are inevitable but the merger will keep the level of the raises to a minimum.
“The merger offers District residents greater buying power by buying power in bulk,” she said. “That will present D.C. residents’ savings and there is an opportunity for even those rates to be lowered.”
