Dive Brief:

• On Wednesday, Exelon reported earnings of $530 million for Q1 2014, down from $602 million in Q1 2013. 
• The company blamed the results on cold weather and an unusually high number of planned and unplanned outages at its nuclear and coal facilities, leading to higher-than-usual costs for replacement power and ensuring stable distribution.
• The big news, however, was that Exelon announced an agreement to acquire Pepco Holdings for $6.8 billion. If successful, the deal would make Exelon the largest utility company in the U.S. with a $26 billion rate base.

Dive Insight:

Exelon's pending Pepco acquisition was a case of "the right deal at the right time," said Exelon CEO Chris Crane. "This acquisition will add further sources of stable regulated cash to our portfolio and leverages our position as a leader in operating large urban utilities."

When asked if Exelon considered investing in renewables, Crane said the company continues "to hunt for value" in both conventional generation opportunities and "the renewable opportunities that are coming to market."

Looking forward, Exelon expressed optimism in "the upside of power prices, which we're starting to enjoy seeing come to fruition," Crane said. "We position ourselves to further benefit from the market recovery. We also believe in the need for strong infrastructure investment in our utility platforms."