DC People's Counsel Opposes Latest Exelon-Pepco Proposal

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The people's counsel for the District of Columbia says she can't accept a proposal by power companies Exelon and Pepco to salvage their $6.8 billion merger.

District regulators have rejected the merger twice. After the second rejection, regulators offered a revised settlement that would allow the merger to go forward. But Mayor Muriel Bowser and other city officials said that settlement took away important protections for ratepayers and refused to support it.

Exelon and Pepco proposed different settlement terms, but People's Counsel Sandra Mattavous-Frye said Friday she would not support that proposal. She's one of several city officials who have to sign off on the deal.

The District is the only jurisdiction that hasn't approve the merger, which would create a large electric utility in the Mid-Atlantic.

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