Public Citizen and DC SUN Challenge Exelon’s Takeover of Pepco

Sept. 17, 2015 PowerDC rally against Exelon takeover of Pepco, before marching to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's office to deliver the hand-signed bannerAs stated in an Earth Day press release sub-headline:

Groups Tell D.C. Public Service Commission: Decision to Approve Was Based on Error; Stop Exelon From Moving Forward With Takeover.

 Earth Day just happened to be the deadline for motions for reconsideration to the D.C. PSC, regarding its March 31 split decision to allow Entergy Nuclear to takeover Mid-Atlantic utility Pepco.

As the Public Citizen and DC Sun press release puts it:

Summary of Application for Reconsideration:

• The commission’s most thorough reasoning in the case is in its August order rejecting the merger. Half a year later, the commission suddenly approved a similar merger without ever revisiting many of the key issues and explaining what changed.

• The commission denied the public the right to weigh in on a proposed settlement in the case by giving just 12 days’ notice of a public hearing, rather than the 45 days that DC law requires.

• The commission contradicted its own orders in the case without explanation, denying parties notice and the opportunity to participate fully. After the commission rejected the merger last August, it reopened the case at Exelon and Pepco’s request to consider a proposed settlement between some of the parties. The commission made clear it reopened the case only for the “very limited purpose” of deciding whether a particular settlement proposal was in the public interest. But in February, the commission suddenly expanded the scope of the case and proposed new terms to the settling parties. When nearly all parties rejected these terms, the commission adopted them anyway—approving different terms than it said it would consider, in the absence of any settlement at all.

• The commission applied the wrong standard for determining the public interest, placed the burden of persuasion on the wrong parties, and failed to make an independent finding that the acquisition terms as a whole are in the public interest.

The press release goes on to state:

The PSC has five days to respond. If the PSC fails to correct its decision, Public Citizen and DC SUN intend to appeal to the D.C. Court of Appeals. (emphasis added)