Exelon, PSEG merger will not yield immediate savings for customers.

By Robert Manor, Chicago Tribune Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 24--Commonwealth Edison's customers won't see an immediate benefit from the merger of Exelon and Public Service Enterprise Group, but the company said future rate increases could be offset by savings in operating costs.

When Exelon, ComEd's corporate parent, announced in December that it would merge with New Jersey-based PSEG, the company said it would eventually save $500 million a year, less some costs at start up.

Consumer advocates argued that ComEd should share some of its savings with Illinois customers as a price of the merger. "If there are savings to be had, there is no reason Illinois shouldn't get its share," said Martin Cohen, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board.

But merger savings in ComEd's service area come to just $35 million a year by 2009, company executives said Wednesday at a hearing by the Illinois Commerce Commission. Considering that ComEd serves 3.6 million customers in Northern Illinois, $35 million is a relatively small sum.

Still, ComEd told the commissioners that Illinois consumers will come out ahead from the merger.

"Rates will be lower than they otherwise would have been," said ComEd President Frank ...