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AES Corp. will buy the regional power company DPL Inc. for about $3.5 billion in cash, the companies said Wednesday, accelerating a consolidation in the industry that is already well under way.
With costs rising and environmental regulations on the horizon, utilities are bulking up so that they can better shoulder the load. The recession also hit the sector hard because major customers like industrial plants and factories have shut down. Get the full story »
France’s Schneider Electric SA, which has its U.S. headquarters in Palatine, has made a preliminary bid for approximately $30 billion for Tyco International Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter, hoping to draw the Swiss-based conglomerate to the negotiating table. Get the full story »
From the Times of Northwest Indiana | NIPSCO’s chief executive Jimmy Staton received a 31 percent pay raise to $1.9 million last year while telling state regulators the utility needs more money from customers to cover increased costs.Get the full story>>
American Transmission Co. wants to build a $20 million power line from Pleasant Prairie and Zion, Ill. Get the full story »
For the third year in a row, business customers have placed Commonwealth Edison second-to-last in customer satisfaction among its Midwest peers.
According to a J.D. Power and Associates study — based on interviews with representatives of more than 17,000 U.S. businesses that spend between $500 and $50,000 monthly on electricity — ComEd tied for second-to-last place with the state’s other major utility Ameren Illinois. Both received a score of 607 on a 1,000 point scale. Get the full story »
Commonwealth Edison and other state utilities would be able to lock in profit margins above 10 percent under a bill to be introduced Tuesday in the General Assembly.
The legislation also proposes that rate hikes for consumers, which typically undergo an 11-month regulatory review, could be decided in as little as 45 days.
Exelon Corp.’s fourth-quarter profitability beat Wall Street estimates, as the Chicago-based utility company reported Wednesday that it earned $631 million, or 96 cents a share during the quarter, compared with $610 million, or 92 cents in the year-ago period. Get the full story »
Duke Energy said Monday it agreed to buy Progress Energy Inc for $13.7 billion in stock, creating the largest U.S. power company.
The transaction would create an industry giant with approximately 7.1 million electricity customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, and 57,000 megawatts of generating capacity. Get the full story »
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Exelon’s Commonwealth Edison Co. is the chief opponent of an Illinois Power Agency proposal that would to help the largest consumers of electricity finance major capital projects that would allow them to cut usage. Such cuts would hurt ComEd’s revenue and potentially reduce wholesale power prices. Get the full story>>
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Illinois’ utility regulator has recommend that Commonwealth Edison Co. get a small fraction of the $400 million rate hike it requested. The Illinois Commerce Commission staff recommended a rate increase of $78 million, or roughly 7 percent on the average month residential electric bill. Get the full story>>
Commonwealth Edison is asking the Second Appellate Court to rehear its case following a decision earlier this month that removed the funding mechanism ComEd was using to pay for a smart grid pilot program in the Chicago area.
The decision also overturned a precedent the Illinois Commerce Commission has used for years to determine how much consumers pay on utility bills, a change that would mean an annual revenue loss of tens of millions of dollars for ComEd’s parent, Exelon Corp. and possible rebates for consumers.
The court has not decided if or when it will rehear the case. Get the full story »
General Electric Co. reported a sharper-than-expected drop in revenue on slack demand for heavy equipment, casting doubts about the pace of the U.S. recovery from the worst economy since the Great Depression.
The largest U.S. conglomerate’s 5.1 percent decline in sales overshadowed better-than-expected profit and sent GE shares down 3 percent in premarket trading on Friday as some investors took it as another sign that the economic recovery is faltering. Get the full story »
On the heels of a request for a 7 percent rate hike, Commonwealth Edison is asking the Illinois Commerce Commission to add $60 million to fund additional improvements. Get the full story »
ComEd said will letters go out this week to single family homeowners in the innovation corridor along I-290 – which includes 130,000 customers in Melrose Park, Bellwood, Maywood, River Forest, Oak Park, Forest Park, Broadview, Hillside, Berwyn and the Humboldt Park section of Chicago – asking for single-family homeowners to test solar panels.
The three-year photovoltaic pilot is partially funded by a $5 million U.S. Department of Energy grant and allows ComEd to install 100 solar arrays on residential homes in the corridor. The arrays produce enough electricity to power a small home and at the end of the pilot, the homeowners keep the panels, said Maryl Freestone, senior engineer and project manager for the PV pilot. Get the full story »
NiSource Inc. swung to a bigger-than-expected second-quarter profit amid higher volume, but the top line slid on a tumble in non-operational revenue. NiSource posted a profit of $28.1 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $4.8 million, or a penny a share. Revenue slid 7.7 percent to $1.17 billion as so-called “other” revenue tumbled 60 percent. Get the full story »
