Exelon utilities could spend $3 billion to $7 billion building 1.5 GW to 3.5 GW of regulated energy storage, not including a $1 billion, 500-MW project already proposed for New Jersey, company officials said Friday during an earnings call.
“With regulated storage, we have certainty that projects get built, and control over when and how they're deployed,” Robert Kleczynski, Exelon’s CFO, said during the call. “We view utility-owned storage as one option alongside competitive development, not a replacement for it.”
Customers would benefit from the projects through lower capacity prices and the flow-through of investment tax credits, which would ease the assets’ effect on electricity rates, he said.
Three states where Exelon utilities operate — New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware — allow them to own energy storage facilities to bolster grid resiliency, Kleczynski noted.
Atlantic City Electric’s 500-MW project, developed with Invenergy, would be the largest battery installation in the PJM Interconnection and is expected to provide more than $700 million in net benefits to customers, he said. Exelon expects the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to make a decision on the proposal late in the first quarter next year, according to Kleczynski.
PJM isn’t moving fast enough to add generation onto its system, which is the biggest issue facing consumers in the grid operator’s Mid-Atlantic and Midwest footprint, according to Calvin Butler, Exelon president and CEO.
Two key PJM initiatives — its backstop capacity procurement plan and its Interim Resource Adequacy Service proposal — have been delayed by only partial approvals by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
“Neither proposal would have solved the reliability and affordability challenges facing our customers, but both represented important steps forward,” Butler said.
However, adding energy storage and transmission can help address the issue, according to Butler. Exelon’s current capital expenditure plan calls for investing $16.3 billion on transmission through 2029, and the Chicago-based company sees opportunity for $12 billion to $17 billion in transmission spending beyond that plan, including on infrastructure for large loads.
Exelon’s “high-probability” large load additions remained flat at 11 GW — with 9 GW in Commonwealth Edison’s service area in northern Illinois and 2 GW in the Mid-Atlantic region, the company said.
Its future pipeline slipped to 23 GW — 14 GW with ComEd and 9 GW in the Mid-Atlantic — from 25 GW last quarter.
On the financial front, Exelon’s third-quarter income fell to $729 million, down from $875 million in the same period last year, partly due to higher writeoffs related to a rate case, and higher storm and interest expenses. Third-quarter revenue jumped to $7.3 billion from $6.7 billion in the year-ago period.
Not including one-time factors, third-quarter adjusted income increased to 87 cents/share from 86 cents/share in the third quarter in 2025.
In a note, Jefferies equity analyst on Friday said the earnings results and the potential spending on storage and transmission, in addition to Exelon’s $41.7 billion capital expenditure plan, were “favorable.”
However, the analysts warned that regulatory uncertainty in 2027 dampens the outlook and may offset any incremental earnings from new capital expenditures.
Exelon has close to 11 million customers through its six utility subsidiaries — Atlantic City Electric, Baltimore Gas and Electric, ComEd, Delmarva Power & Light, PECO Energy Co. and Potomac Electric Power Co.
