Dive Brief:
- Exelon reported adjusted operating earnings of 71 cents/share in the first quarter of 2015, up from 62 cents/share in the same quarter last year.
- Favorable weather and sales in Pennsylvania, lower storm costs and the company's acquisition of Integrys Energy Services all contributed favorably to the solid first quarter.
- However, in the company's Illinois territory where it operates Commonwealth Edison, operating results declined $6 million on lower volumes.
Dive Insight:
It was a strong quarter for Exelon, with utility operations in Pennsylvania giving a significant boost to the company's bottom line.
PECO’s first quarter 2015 GAAP net income was $139 million, compared with net income of $89 million in the same period last year. Operating earnings in the first quarter of 2015 increased $51 million, largely due to decreased storm costs and favorable weather and volume.
PECO total retail electric deliveries were up 1.5% compared with the first quarter of 2014; the company said natural gas deliveries (including both retail and transportation segments) rose almost 5% this quarter compared with the same period in 2014.
In Northern Illinois, ComEd adjusted operating earnings fell $6 million in the first quarter, primarily as a result of unfavorable weather and volume in the first quarter of 2015. Electric distribution earnings were flat, the company said, "reflecting the impacts of increased capital investment, offset by lower allowed return on common equity due to a decrease in treasury rates," the company said in its release. Total retail electric deliveries decreased 3.5%.
MarketWatch notes that the $60 million acquisition of Integrys Energy Services, which Exelon's Constellation completed last year, helped bolster the bottom line. The company's generation business also benefited from higher revenue net of purchased power and fuel as a result of the lower costs to serve load, as well as the cancellation of the Department of Energy's spent nuclear fuel disposal fees.