Exelon earns $200M in 1Q
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS May 4, 2012 11:12AM
Updated: May 4, 2012 4:06PM
Exelon Corp. said it earned $200 million in the first quarter, the company’s first since its acquisition with Constellation Energy was completed.
The Chicago-based company said Friday that its net income suffered because a historically warm winter reduced demand for power in its service territory.
The company began including Constellation’s results along with its own beginning on March 12, the day the deal was completed, so it cautioned that its results are not comparable with Exelon’s first quarter of 2011.
Exelon said it earned 28 cents per share on revenue of $4.69 billion during the first three months of the year. Adjusting for costs associated with the merger and other items, the company earned 85 cents per share. Analysts expected Exelon to earn an adjusted 80 cents per share on revenue of $5.38 billion.
Exelon shares rose 13 cents to $38.69 in morning trading. Its shares have traded in a 52-week range of $37.48 to $45.45 per share.
The first three months of the year were the warmest on record nationwide, according to government statistics. That reduced demand for power nationwide, and dented the earnings of most utilities, including Exelon.
Exelon’s power stations suffered lower revenue and profit because of the low demand and because wholesale power prices were dragged lower by natural gas prices that have slipped to their lowest levels in a decade. In many parts of the country natural gas prices help determine the wholesale price of power.
Adjusted for the effects of weather, demand for power at Exelon’s Illinois utility company ComEd increased 0.5 percent. Weather-adjusted demand for the company’s Pennsylvania utility, PECO, fell 2.7 percent.
Exelon operates in 47 states. It serves 6.6 million customers through its utility companies ComEd, PECO and BGE, which is based in Maryland and was acquired as part of the Constellation deal. Exelon also operates a fleet of generating stations, including the nation’s largest nuclear fleet, that sells wholesale power. The company’s retail electric sales division sells power to 100,000 commercial customers and 1 million residential customers.
