e8vk
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): August 2, 2006
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in |
|
|
|
|
Its Charter; State of Incorporation; |
|
IRS Employer |
Commission File |
|
Address of Principal Executive Offices; |
|
Identification |
Number |
|
and Telephone Number |
|
Number |
|
|
|
|
|
1-16169
|
|
EXELON CORPORATION
(a Pennsylvania corporation)
10 South Dearborn Street 37th Floor
P.O. Box 805379
Chicago, Illinois 60680-5379
(312) 394-7398
|
|
23-2990190 |
|
|
|
|
|
1-1839
|
|
COMMONWEALTH EDISON COMPANY
(an Illinois corporation)
440 South LaSalle Street
Chicago, Illinois 60605-1028
(312) 394-4321
|
|
36-0938600 |
|
|
|
|
|
000-16844
|
|
PECO ENERGY COMPANY
(a Pennsylvania corporation)
P.O. Box 8699
2301 Market Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19101-8699
(215) 841-4000
|
|
23-0970240 |
|
|
|
|
|
333-85496
|
|
EXELON GENERATION COMPANY, LLC
(a Pennsylvania limited liability company)
300 Exelon Way
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania 19348
(610) 765-6900
|
|
23-3064219 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the
filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
o Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
o Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR
240.14d-2(b))
o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR
240.13e-4(c))
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section 8 Other Events
Item 8.01. Other Events
On August 2, 2006, Exelon Corporation (Exelon) and Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated
(PSEG) delivered a letter to the Executive Director of the NJBPU in regard to a proposed settlement
offer in the regulatory proceedings before the NJBPU in connection with the proposed merger of
Exelon and PSEG, with copies to the Commissioners of the NJBPU and parties of record. A copy of
the August 2, 2006 letter is attached as Exhibit 99.1
* * * * *
This combined Form 8-K is being furnished separately by Exelon, Commonwealth Edison Company
(ComEd), PECO Energy Company (PECO) and Exelon Generation Company, LLC (Generation) (Registrants).
Information contained herein relating to any individual registrant has been furnished by such
registrant on its own behalf. No registrant makes any representation as to information relating to
any other registrant.
Except for the historical information contained herein, certain of the matters discussed in this
Report are forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, that are subject to risks and uncertainties. The factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made by a registrant
include those factors discussed herein, as well as the items discussed in (a) the Registrants 2005
Annual Report on Form 10-KITEM 1A. Risk Factors, (b) the Registrants 2005 Annual Report on Form
10-KITEM 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data: ExelonNote 20, ComEdNote 17, PECONote
15 and GenerationNote 17, and (c) other factors discussed in filings with the SEC by the
Registrants. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which apply only as of the date of this Report. None of the Registrants undertakes any
obligation to publicly release any revision to its forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date of this Report.
Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits.
|
|
|
Exhibit No. |
|
Description |
|
|
|
99.1
|
|
August 2, 2006 letter from PSEG and Exelon to Victor Fortkiewicz, Executive Director of the
NJ Board of Public Utilities |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused
this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EXELON CORPORATION
PECO ENERGY COMPANY
EXELON GENERATION COMPANY, LLC
|
|
|
/s/ John F. Young
|
|
|
John F. Young |
|
|
Executive Vice President, Finance and Markets,
and Chief Financial Officer
Exelon Corporation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
COMMONWEALTH EDISON COMPANY
|
|
|
/s/ Robert K. McDonald
|
|
|
Robert K. McDonald |
|
|
Senior Vice President, Chief
Financial Officer, Treasurer and Chief Risk Officer
Commonwealth Edison Company |
|
|
August 2, 2006
EXHIBIT INDEX
|
|
|
Exhibit No. |
|
Description |
|
|
|
99.1
|
|
August 2, 2006 letter from PSEG and Exelon to Victor Fortkiewicz, Executive
Director of the NJ Board of Public Utilities |
exv99w1
EXHIBIT 99.1
August 2, 2006
Mr. Victor Fortkiewicz
Executive Director
NJ Board of Public Utilities
Two Gateway Center
Newark, NJ 07102
|
|
|
Re:
|
|
I/M/O the Joint Petition of Public Service Electric and Gas Company and |
|
|
Exelon Corporation for Approval of a Change in Control of Public |
|
|
Service Electric and Gas Company, and Related Authorizations, |
|
|
Dkt No. EM05020106 |
|
|
OAL Dkt No. PUC-1874-05 |
Dear Mr. Fortkiewicz:
The significantly enhanced settlement proposal that we provided to you and to all the parties
in the Exelon /PSEG merger proceeding last week was our last and best offer in an effort to bring
the proceeding to a successful, timely conclusion. As we have discussed several times in the
interim, Exelon and PSEG have considerable flexibility with respect to the various elements within
the proposal, but we do not have the ability, consistent with our fiduciary duties and the current
financial condition of PSE&G, to increase the overall size of the proposal. We believe that our
proposal will provide approximately $1.46 billion of positive benefits to PSE&Gs ratepayers and
the State of New Jersey, as depicted in the attached Term Sheet, which was provided to you last
week.
As we have also discussed, the Exelon Board is scheduled to meet this Friday afternoon. It
is important that Exelon management be able to convey to its Board whether the BPU Staff will agree
in principle to settle this matter within these overall financial parameters. As you know, many of
the active parties in the proceeding, including every major labor union representing PSEG
employees, customers, and competitors, have already indicated that these terms are acceptable,
assuming the Staff is satisfied. If the Staff accepts these overall terms, we expect to be able to
complete negotiations on a comprehensive merger stipulation with the Staff and a majority of the
active parties in the case by the third week in August.
If we can complete a settlement within these parameters and within this time frame, we would
file the merger stipulation with the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) late in August, the ALJ would
review the stipulation, and after providing his recommended decision, the BPU Commissioners could
consider the stipulation and his
-2-
recommendation at a BPU meeting at the end of September. Such a schedule will allow for full
due process for all of the parties, and would conclude this proceeding approximately 20 months
after the petition was filed. It could allow PSE&G to begin providing the substantial rate credits
embodied in the Offer to customers as early as November 1, 2006.
If the Staff cannot agree in principle to these overall terms or the resultant timetable, we
will so inform the Exelon and PSEG Boards. In such case we believe it is likely that we will be
directed to withdraw the merger application and terminate our Merger Agreement. In such case the
benefits provided by the merger to PSE&Gs customers and to the State will be lost, and PSE&G will
need to pursue its pending requests for approximately $200 million per year of electric and gas
base rate relief. This is not a threat. It is just a factual statement of where both Companies are
in terms of financial capability 20 months after entering into their Merger Agreement.
As mentioned, the Offer is outlined in detail in the attached Term Sheet. The Offer
represents over $1.46 billion in positive benefits to the State of New Jersey. It includes $600
million of cash to be used in a combination of rate credits and funding for targeted customer and
State benefits to be made available between the closing of the merger and January 2009. The $600
million represents value equal to ten years of the gross synergies ($60 million/year) expected from
the merger and more than five times the value offered in January. The combination of rate credits
and funding would provide immediate, direct benefits to PSE&Gs customers, as well as to a variety
of parties litigating the case, and could be used to provide funding for a number of programs that
benefit the public at large (assistance for low income customers, economic development,
conservation and energy efficiency projects to name a few). The $600 million package also could
permit a substantial contribution to an Infrastructure Development Fund, to be established by the
State of New Jersey.
The Offer also includes withdrawal of PSE&Gs pending electric rate case coupled with a
four-year rate stay out (until January 1, 2011). There is simply no other way that PSE&Gs
customers can achieve such an attractive result. The Offer of Settlement also reflects settlement
of the pending $133 million/year gas rate case for $80 million/year with new rates to be
implemented January 1, 2007 and no additional base rates to be effective prior to January 1, 2009.
PSE&Gs Gas Utility earned a return on equity of less than 4% for the 12-months ending June 30,
2006, which is clearly inadequate. Settlement of the gas case on this basis will assist in being
able to maintain PSE&Gs credit ratings.
The Offer also directly addresses any remaining issues pertaining to the impact of the merger
on competition. The Petitioners believe that their recent settlement with the Antitrust Division
of the United States Department of Justice represents a definitive resolution of the so-called
market power issues. Nonetheless, in light of the continuing concern over certain limited screen
failures identified in the most recent analysis of the competitive issues completed by the PJM
Market Monitoring Unit, Petitioners are proposing additional behavioral mitigation which the PJM
Market Monitor
-3-
has analyzed. The MMU has recognized that the behavioral mitigation measures outlined in the Offer
are effective.
The Offer also includes locating the headquarters of Exelon Energy Delivery Company (parent
company of PSE&G, ComEd and PECO) in Newark. Finally, the Offer references a comprehensive draft
Settlement Agreement that has been developed by the parties to the case that addresses numerous
issues that have been resolved in the course of the ongoing settlement discussions. These issues
include safety, reliability and customer service, maintaining the PSE&G capital program,
maintaining 16 existing New Jersey Customer Service Centers for a minimum of five years, corporate
governance, accounting, pension and other post-employment benefits (OPEB) liabilities, service
company issues, and affiliate standards.
This Offer is not being made in a vacuum. By having sent the Merger Application to the Office
of Administrative Law for a formal hearing, the Board has provided the parties to the case an
extensive opportunity to consider the issues presented by the merger very thoroughly, including
many millions of pages of documentation from Exelon and PSEG. The parties to the proceeding have
completed extensive discovery in the case, have participated in lengthy hearings before an
Administrative Law Judge (17 hearing days over three months), and have had extensive formal and
informal settlement negotiations (7 settlement meetings, 7 additional reliability settlement
meetings, numerous independent discussions, i.e. accounting/OPEB, governance, service company). In
short, the process leading to this point has been extraordinarily thorough, affording all parties
to the case an opportunity to thoroughly examine the proposed merger. After such an extensive
process, the matter is fully ready for resolution. We need to know as soon as possible whether the
Staff is willing to enter into a settlement that will bring these considerable benefits of the
merger to New Jersey.
In January, in testimony of John W. Rowe, the Petitioners offered to provide rate credits to
PSE&Gs customers of $120 million, which represents 75% of the expected synergies resulting over a
four year period from the transaction. The 75% sharing mechanism is consistent with Board
precedent.1 However, settlement discussions in the case have made it clear that the
parties do not believe that offer is generous enough. In addition to Mr. Rowes initial commitment
of $120 million consistent with prior BPU precedent, we have made two previous enhanced settlement
offers, both of which have been rejected by the Staff. In neither case has the Staff provided us
with a counter proposal.
We have not made this Offer lightly. We believe that the merger represents both an attractive
transaction from the perspective of our two corporations and a significant public benefit to the
Citizens of New Jersey. We believe that the record in
1 I/M/O The Joint Petition Of FirstEnergy Corp.
and Jersey Central Power & Light, D/B/A GPU Energy, for Approval Of A Change In
Ownership And Acquisition Of Control Of A New Jersey Public Utility And Other
Relief, BPU Docket No. EM00110870, Order dated October 9, 2001, page 20
-4-
the case shows conclusively that the merger meets the positive benefit standard established by the
BPU for approval. Without the merger, the benefits outlined above will be lost, and PSE&G will
need immediate substantial rate relief.
We respectfully request you provide us a response so that it can be communicated to our
respective Boards of Directors.
Sincerely,
|
|
|
Elizabeth A. Moler
|
|
R. Edwin Selover |
Executive Vice President
|
|
Senior Vice President and General Counsel |
Exelon Corporation
|
|
Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated |
|
|
|
C:
|
|
Jeanne M. Fox, President |
|
|
Frederick F. Butler, Commissioner |
|
|
Connie O. Hughes, Commissioner |
|
|
Joseph L. Fiordaliso, Commissioner |
|
|
Parties of Record |
|
|
|
Privileged and Confidential
|
|
July 26, 2006 |
Prepared for Settlement Discussions |
|
|
|
|
|
Exelon/PSEG Merger
|
|
$1.46 billion |
Value of Merger to Customers/New Jersey |
|
|
September 2006 January 2011 |
|
|
|
|
|
Targeted Customer and State Benefits
|
|
$600 million |
|
|
|
$600 million to be made available beginning 30 days after merger close through December
31, 2008 for targeted customer and State benefits, as determined by BPU/Settling Parties
for: |
|
|
|
Reductions to customers rates |
|
|
|
Conservation/Environmental/Energy Efficiency projects |
|
|
|
Assistance for low income customers |
|
|
|
Infrastructure Development Fund |
|
|
|
Settlement resolves pending Market Transition Charge (MTC) deferrals. |
|
|
|
Pending Rate Cases/Stay-Outs
|
|
$220 million |
|
|
|
$64 million/year electric case |
|
|
|
Withdraw pending $64 million/year electric case |
|
|
|
4-1/3 year electric rate stay-out; no increase in electric base rates
prior to January 1, 2011 |
|
|
|
Customer value $220 million through 12/31/10 (based upon $50
million/year settlement value) |
|
|
|
$133 million/year gas rate case |
|
|
|
Settle pending gas rate case for $80 million/year |
|
|
|
Implement new rates January 1, 2007 ($80 million/year) |
|
|
|
No additional gas base rate increases effective prior to January 1, 2009 |
Reliability and Customer Service
|
|
|
Implement Reliability and Customer Standards to assure continuation
of PSE&Gs high quality service, with reasonable performance penalties. |
|
|
|
Maintain existing PSE&G capital program, providing approximately $2 billion of
investment in New Jersey infrastructure through December 31, 2010. |
|
|
|
Maintain 16 existing New Jersey Customer Service Centers for five years. |
Employees
|
|
|
Agreement with all unions representing PSE&G employees, providing no forced layoffs
through May 1, 2011. |
Competition
|
|
|
Implement requirements of United States Department of Justice and Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission. |
|
|
|
In addition, implement the following additional behavioral remedies to resolve all
market power issues, with concurrence of PJM Market Monitoring Unit (MMU): |
|
|
|
Aggregate Energy MarketBid each nuclear generating unit in PJM East
at no higher than its marginal cost |
|
|
|
PJM East Constraint ReliefAuthorize PJM to impose cost-based bid cap
on Essex Generating Station owned by Exelon E&G |
|
|
|
Current MarketBid all excess generating capacity (net long capacity
position, as determined by PJM) at a price of zero. |
|
|
|
Reliability Pricing MarketWhen RPM is implemented, bid each generating
unit in PJM East at the units avoidable cost as determined by the PJM MMU. |
|
|
|
Comply with PJM MMU operating requirements. |
Other
|
|
|
Increase PSE&G charitable contributions to 20% above 2005 level ($6.3 million) for five
years. Assures charitable contributions of $37.5 million over the next five years
(increment of $5 million through December 31, 2010). |
|
|
|
PSE&G to remain a New Jersey company, with headquarters in Newark, New Jersey. |
|
|
|
Headquarters of Exelon Energy Delivery (parent company of PSE&G, ComEd and PECO) to be
relocated from Chicago, IL to Newark, NJ (EEG Generation to be headquartered in PA). |
|
|
|
PSE&G Directors to consist of at least 40% percent persons who (i) are independent
under New York Stock Exchange requirements, and (ii) meet New Jersey residency
requirements. |
|
|
|
Interim approval of Service Company; Company to file for final approval within one year
after closing. |
|
|
|
Corporate Governance, Accounting, and other matters to be resolved in accordance with
Exelon PSEG 7/26/06 settlement proposal. |
|
|
|
Increased State Corporation
Business Tax Revenues |
|
$170 million
|
|
|
|
State revenues under the New Jersey Corporation Business Tax (CBT) are estimated to
increase by approximately $100 million in the States fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, $25
to $40 million in the States fiscal year ending June 30, 2008 and by $10 to $30 million
per year thereafter (through December 31, 2010) on an ongoing basis as a result of the
merger. |
|
|
|
Improved Nuclear
Performance |
|
$465 million
|
|
|
|
Increased nuclear generation expected to reduce wholesale electric prices; value based
upon Schnitzer testimony through December 31, 2010. |