Exelon trying to buy BGE parent company The energy company trying to buy the parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. gave $250,000 last quarter to the Democratic Governors Association, led by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, according to a report released Monday.
Made June 20, the contribution by Chicago’s Exelon Corp. was the largest donation the governors group received in the first half of 2011, the organization’s midyear Internal Revenue Service report indicated.
Exelon gave to the Democratic organization, whose current chairman is Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, because of its demonstrated support for “sound energy policy,” said Exelon spokesman Paul Elsberg.
“Exelon’s contribution supports the Democratic Governors Association’s national energy policy symposium series taking place across the country,” he said.
Exelon announced in April that it wants to buy Constellation Energy Group for $7.6 billion, creating the nation’s largest competitive power supplier.
DGA spokeswoman Lis Smith noted that Exelon is hardly the only energy corporation to donate to the organization. Companies “across the energy spectrum” support the group, she said. The money they contribute, like all money the organization receives, helps fund Democratic gubernatorial campaigns.
“This $250,000 is treated the same way as $1 we get online,” Smith said, explaining that all donations are pooled together. The group doesn’t track how an individual donation is spent, she said, and it’s impossible to know which campaigns benefit from a specific contribution.
Constellation Energy Group contributed $50,000
to the DGA in the same period as Exelon. The company also donated the same amount to the Republican Governors Association in June, Constellation Energy spokesman Aaron Koos said.
“We support sound energy policy at all levels,” Koos said.
Exelon and Constellation Energy submitted a merger request with Maryland’s Public Service Commission in June. Hearings will begin in October and briefs will be filed in December.
Constellation’s nuclear arm owns and operates the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, where the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still evaluating a years-old request to build a third reactor. The company also recently completed construction of Criterion Wind in Garrett County in Western Maryland, the first commercial wind energy project in the state.
BGE, a subsidiary of Constellation Energy, serves 1.1 million residential electric customers in Maryland, including 83,800 in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.
