Commonwealth Edison 10-K2020 FY Annual report

December 31, 20202020FY--12-31976,337,79935,402,501,369127,021,370170,478,5071,0001001,0008,546,017000110935700011681650000022606000007810000000094660001135971000007973200000278790000008192FALSEPA10 South Dearborn StreetP.O. Box 805379ChicagoIL60680-5379(800)483-3220PA300 Exelon WayKennett SquarePA19348-2473(610)765-5959IL440 South LaSalle StreetChicagoIL60605-1028(312)394-4321PAP.O. Box 86992301 Market StreetPhiladelphiaPA19101-8699(215)841-4000MD2 Center Plaza110 West Fayette StreetBaltimoreMD21201-3708(410)234-5000DE701 Ninth Street, N.W.Washington, District of Columbia20068(202)872-2000DCVA701 Ninth Street, N.W.Washington, District of Columbia20068(202)872-2000DEVA500 North Wakefield DriveNewarkDE19702(202)872-2000NJ500 North Wakefield DriveNewarkDE19702(202)872-2000Common Stock, without par valueEXCNasdaqEXC/28NYSECumulative Preferred Security, Series D,0015001500100010001001001,0001,0001,0001,00058015858047518150158181105803350570570555505805804502050575575575350575255057057557585056513155005005001111111112 years2 years5 years3 years5 years3 years5 years1 years1 years2 years1 years853541385111111730 years30 years5 years30 years5 years30 years5 years12 years4 years2 years1 years10.110.53.84.28.38.29.19.14.010.110.64.64.45.49.09.89.74.76.56.36.56.5111122111111 years1 years5 years5 years5 years823116822212512179 years5 years79 years50 years5 years2034-12-312034-12-312032-12-312033-12-312029-12-312029-12-312032-12-312031-12-312034-12-312034-12-312021-12-312021-12-312029-12-310.6501.65000.2750.2750000.07500.0750.901.2751.2751.000.900.901.0751.001.0750.002750.012750.3750.3750000000000000000000000000000P3Y0001109357exc:SmallCommercialIndustrialMemberus-gaap:RegulatedOperationMemberus-gaap:ElectricityUsRegulatedMemberexc:PecoEnergyCoMember2019-01-012019-12-310001109357exc:AtlanticCityElectricCompanyMemberus-gaap:StateAndLocalJurisdictionMember2018-01-012018-12-310001109357us-gaap:FairValueInputsLevel1Memberus-gaap:ForeignGovernmentDebtSecuritiesMemberus-gaap:FairValueMeasurementsRecurringMember2020-12-310001109357exc:BaltimoreGasAndElectricCompanyMembersrt:ParentCompanyMember2020-12-31

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

This combined Annual Report on Form 10-K is being filed separately by Exelon Corporation, Exelon Generation Company, LLC, Commonwealth Edison Company, PECO Energy Company, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, Pepco Holdings LLC, Potomac Electric Power Company, Delmarva Power & Light Company, and Atlantic City Electric Company (Registrants). Information contained herein relating to any individual Registrant is filed by such Registrant on its own behalf. No Registrant makes any representation as to information relating to any other Registrant.

This Report contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to risks and uncertainties including, among others, those related to the timing, manner, tax-free nature and expected benefits associated with the potential separation of Exelon’s competitive power generation and customer-facing energy business from its six regulated electric and gas utilities. Words such as “could,” “may,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “will,” “targets,” “goals,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “predicts,” and variations on such words, and similar expressions that reflect our current views with respect to future events and operational, economic and financial performance, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.

The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made by the Registrants include those factors discussed herein, including those factors discussed with respect to the Registrants discussed in (a) Part I, ITEM 1A. Risk Factors, (b) Part II, ITEM 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, (c) Part II, ITEM 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data: Note 19, Commitments and Contingencies, and (d) other factors discussed in filings with the SEC by the Registrants. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this Report. None of the Registrants undertakes any obligation to publicly release any revision to its forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Report.

The SEC maintains an Internet site at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information that the Registrants file electronically with the SEC. These documents are also available to the public from commercial document retrieval services and the Registrants’ website at www.exeloncorp.com. Information contained on the Registrants’ website shall not be deemed incorporated into, or to be a part of, this Report.

General

Corporate Structure and Business and Other Information

Exelon is a utility services holding company engaged in the generation, delivery, and marketing of energy through Generation and the energy distribution and transmission businesses through ComEd, PECO, BGE, Pepco, DPL, and ACE.

On February 21, 2021, Exelon’s Board of Directors approved a plan to separate the Utility Registrants and Generation, creating two publicly traded companies with the resources necessary to best serve customers and sustain long-term investment and operating excellence. The separation gives each company the financial and strategic independence to focus on its specific customer needs, while executing its core business strategy. See Note 26 — Subsequent Events of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

Business Services

Through its business services subsidiary, BSC, Exelon provides its subsidiaries with a variety of support services at cost, including legal, human resources, financial, information technology, and supply management services. PHI also has a business services subsidiary, PHISCO, which provides a variety of support services at cost, including legal, accounting, engineering, customer operations, distribution and transmission planning, asset management, system operations, and power procurement, to PHI operating companies. The costs of BSC and PHISCO are directly charged or allocated to the applicable subsidiaries. The results of Exelon’s corporate operations are presented as “Other” within the consolidated financial statements and include intercompany eliminations unless otherwise disclosed.

Generation

Generation, one of the largest competitive electric generation companies in the United States as measured by owned and contracted MW, physically delivers and markets power across multiple geographic regions through its customer-facing business, Constellation. Constellation sells electricity and natural gas, including renewable energy, in competitive energy markets to both wholesale and retail customers. Generation leverages its energy generation portfolio to ensure delivery of energy to both wholesale and retail customers under long-term and short-term contracts, and in wholesale power markets. Generation operates in well-developed energy markets and employs an integrated hedging strategy to manage commodity price volatility. Generation's fleet also provides geographic and supply source diversity. Generation’s customers include distribution utilities, municipalities, cooperatives, financial institutions, and commercial, industrial, governmental, and residential customers in competitive markets. Generation’s customer-facing activities foster development and delivery of other innovative energy-related products and services for its customers.

Generation is a public utility under the Federal Power Act and is subject to FERC’s exclusive ratemaking jurisdiction over wholesale sales of electricity and the transmission of electricity in interstate commerce. Under the Federal Power Act, FERC has the authority to grant or deny market-based rates for sales of energy, capacity, and ancillary services to ensure that such sales are just and reasonable. FERC’s jurisdiction over ratemaking includes the authority to suspend the market-based rates of utilities and set cost-based rates should FERC find that its previous grant of market-based rates authority is no longer just and reasonable. Other matters subject to FERC jurisdiction include, but are not limited to, third-party financings; review of mergers; dispositions of jurisdictional facilities and acquisitions of securities of another public utility or an existing operational generating facility; affiliate transactions; intercompany financings and cash management arrangements; certain internal corporate reorganizations; and certain holding company acquisitions of public utility and holding company securities.

RTOs and ISOs exist in a number of regions to provide transmission service across multiple transmission systems. FERC has approved PJM, MISO, ISO-NE, and SPP as RTOs and CAISO and NYISO as ISOs. These entities are responsible for regional planning, managing transmission congestion, developing wholesale markets for energy and capacity, maintaining reliability, market monitoring, the scheduling of physical power sales brokered through ICE and NYMEX, and the elimination or reduction of redundant transmission charges imposed by multiple transmission providers when wholesale customers take transmission service across several transmission systems. ERCOT is not subject to regulation by FERC but performs a similar function in Texas to that performed by RTOs in markets regulated by FERC.

Specific operations of Generation are also subject to the jurisdiction of various other Federal, state, regional, and local agencies, including the NRC, and Federal and state environmental protection agencies. Additionally, Generation is subject to NERC mandatory reliability standards, which protect the nation’s bulk power system against potential disruptions from cyber and physical security breaches.

Generating Resources

At December 31, 2020, the generating resources of Generation consisted of the following:

Generation has five reportable segments, as described in the table below, representing the different geographical areas in which Generation’s owned generating resources are located and Generation's customer-facing activities are conducted.

Nuclear Facilities

Generation has ownership interests in thirteen nuclear generating stations currently in service, consisting of 23 units with an aggregate of 18,880 MW of capacity. These stations include FitzPatrick located in Scriba, New York, which was acquired on March 31, 2017 and exclude TMI located in Middletown, Pennsylvania, which permanently ceased generation operations on September 20, 2019 and Oyster Creek located in Forked River, New Jersey, which permanently ceased generation operations on September 17, 2018 and was subsequently sold to Holtec International (Holtec) on July 1, 2019. Generation wholly owns all of its nuclear generating stations, except for undivided ownership interests in three jointly-owned nuclear stations: Quad Cities (75% ownership), Peach Bottom (50% ownership), and Salem (42.59% ownership), which are consolidated in Exelon’s and Generation's financial statements relative to its proportionate ownership interest in each unit, and a 50.01% membership interest in CENG, a joint venture with EDF, which wholly owns the Calvert Cliffs and Ginna nuclear stations and Nine Mile Point Unit 1, in addition to an 82% undivided ownership interest in Nine Mile Point Unit 2. CENG is 100% consolidated in Exelon's and Generation's financial statements.

Generation and EDF entered into a Put Option Agreement on April 1, 2014, pursuant to which EDF has an option to sell its 49.99% equity interest in CENG to Generation. The put option became exercisable on January 1, 2016 and may be exercised any time until June 30, 2022. On November 20, 2019, Generation received notice of EDF’s intention to exercise the put option and sell its ownership share in CENG to Generation and the put automatically exercised on January 19, 2020 at the end of the sixty-day advance notice period. At this time, Generation cannot reasonably predict the ultimate purchase price that will be paid to EDF for its interest in CENG. The transaction will require approval by the NYPSC and the FERC. The FERC approval was obtained on July 30, 2020. From the date the put was exercised, the process and regulatory approvals could take one to two years to complete.

See ITEM 2. PROPERTIES for additional information on Generation's nuclear facilities, Note 2 — Mergers, Acquisitions, and Dispositions of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on the disposition of Oyster Creek, and Note 23 — Variable Interest Entities of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the CENG consolidation.

Generation’s nuclear generating stations are all operated by Generation, with the exception of the two units at Salem, which are operated by PSEG Nuclear, LLC (PSEG Nuclear), an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of PSEG. In 2020, 2019, and 2018 electric supply (in GWh) generated from the nuclear generating facilities was 62%, 64%, and 68%, respectively, of Generation’s total electric supply, which also includes fossil, hydroelectric, and renewable generation and electric supply purchased for resale. Generation’s wholesale and retail power marketing activities are, in part, supplied by the output from the nuclear generating stations. See ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS for additional information of Generation’s electric supply sources.

Nuclear Operations

Capacity factors, which are significantly affected by the number and duration of refueling and non-refueling outages, can have a significant impact on Generation’s results of operations. Generation’s operations from its nuclear plants have historically had minimal environmental impact and the plants have a safe operating history.

Generation manages its scheduled refueling outages to minimize their duration and to maintain high nuclear generating capacity factors, resulting in a stable generation base for Generation’s wholesale and retail power marketing activities. During scheduled refueling outages, Generation performs maintenance and equipment upgrades in order to minimize the occurrence of unplanned outages and to maintain safe, reliable operations. During 2020, 2019, and 2018, the nuclear generating facilities operated by Generation, achieved capacity factors of 95.4%, 95.7%, and 94.6%, respectively, at ownership percentage.

In addition to the maintenance and equipment upgrades performed by Generation during scheduled refueling outages, Generation has extensive operating and security procedures in place to ensure the safe operation of the nuclear units. Generation also has extensive safety systems in place to protect the plant, personnel, and surrounding area in the unlikely event of an accident or other incident.

Regulation of Nuclear Power Generation

Generation is subject to the jurisdiction of the NRC with respect to the operation of its nuclear generating stations, including the licensing for operation of each unit. The NRC subjects nuclear generating stations to continuing review and regulation covering, among other things, operations, maintenance, emergency planning, security, and environmental and radiological aspects of those stations. As part of its reactor oversight process, the NRC continuously assesses unit performance indicators and inspection results and communicates its assessment on a semi-annual basis. All nuclear generating stations operated by Generation are categorized by the NRC in the Licensee Response Column, which is the highest of five performance bands. The NRC may modify, suspend, or revoke operating licenses and impose civil penalties for failure to comply with the Atomic Energy Act or the terms of the operating licenses. Changes in regulations by the NRC may require a substantial increase in capital expenditures and/or operating costs for nuclear generating facilities.

Licenses

Generation has original 40-year operating licenses from the NRC for each of its nuclear units and has received 20-year operating license renewals from the NRC for all its nuclear units except Clinton. PSEG has received 20-year operating license renewals for Salem Units 1 and 2. Peach Bottom has received a second 20-year license

renewal from the NRC for Units 2 and 3. On August 27, 2020, Generation announced that it intends to permanently cease generation operations at Byron in September 2021 and at Dresden in November 2021. See Note 7 — Early Plant Retirements of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

The following table summarizes the current license expiration dates for Generation’s operating nuclear facilities in service:

The operating license renewal process takes approximately four to five years from the commencement of the renewal process, which includes approximately two years for Generation to develop the application and approximately two years for the NRC to review the application. Depreciation provisions are based on the estimated useful lives of the stations, which reflect the first renewal of the operating licenses for all of Generation’s operating nuclear generating stations except for Clinton, Peach Bottom, Byron, and Dresden. Clinton depreciation provisions are based on an estimated useful life of 2027 which is the last year of the Illinois ZES. Peach Bottom depreciation provisions are based on estimated useful life of 2053 and 2054 for Unit 2 and Unit 3, respectively, which reflects the second renewal of its operating licenses. Byron and Dresden depreciation provisions are based on the announced shutdown dates of September 2021 and November 2021, respectively. See Note 3 — Regulatory Matters of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on the Illinois ZES and Note 7 — Early Plant Retirements of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on early retirements.

Nuclear Waste Storage and Disposal

There are no facilities for the reprocessing or permanent disposal of SNF currently in operation in the United States, nor has the NRC licensed any such facilities. Generation currently stores all SNF generated by its nuclear generating facilities on-site in storage pools or in dry cask storage facilities. Since Generation’s SNF storage pools generally do not have sufficient storage capacity for the life of the respective plant, Generation has developed dry cask storage facilities to support operations.

As of December 31, 2020, Generation had approximately 87,100 SNF assemblies (21,600 tons) stored on site in SNF pools or dry cask storage which includes SNF assemblies at Zion Station, for which Generation retains ownership even though the responsibility for decommissioning Zion Station has been assumed by another party, and TMI, which is no longer operational. See the Decommissioning section below for additional information regarding Zion Station. All currently operating Generation-owned nuclear sites have on-site dry cask storage. TMI's on-site dry cask storage is projected to be in operation in 2021. On-site dry cask storage in concert with on-site storage pools will be capable of meeting all current and future SNF storage requirements at Generation’s sites through the end of the license renewal periods and through decommissioning.

For a discussion of matters associated with Generation’s contracts with the DOE for the disposal of SNF, see Note 19 — Commitments and Contingencies of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

As a by-product of their operations, nuclear generating units produce LLRW. LLRW is accumulated at each generating station and permanently disposed of at licensed disposal facilities. The Federal Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980 provides that states may enter into agreements to provide regional disposal facilities for LLRW and restrict use of those facilities to waste generated within the region. Illinois and Kentucky have entered into such an agreement, although neither state currently has an operational site and none is anticipated to be operational for the next ten years.

Generation ships its Class A LLRW, which represents 93% of LLRW generated at its stations, to disposal facilities in Utah and South Carolina, which have enough storage capacity to store all Class A LLRW for the life of all stations in Generation's nuclear fleet. The disposal facility in South Carolina at present is only receiving LLRW from LLRW generators in South Carolina, New Jersey (which includes Salem), and Connecticut.

Generation utilizes on-site storage capacity at all its stations to store and stage for shipping Class B and Class C LLRW. Generation has a contract through 2032 to ship Class B and Class C LLRW to a disposal facility in Texas. The agreement provides for disposal of all current Class B and Class C LLRW currently stored at each station as well as the Class B and Class C LLRW generated during the term of the agreement. However, because the production of LLRW from Generation’s nuclear fleet will exceed the capacity at the Texas site (3.9 million curies for 15 years beginning in 2012), Generation will still be required to utilize on-site storage at its stations for Class B and Class C LLRW. Generation currently has enough storage capacity to store all Class B and Class C LLRW for the life of all stations in Generation’s nuclear fleet. Generation continues to pursue alternative disposal strategies for LLRW, including an LLRW reduction program to minimize on-site storage and cost impacts.

Nuclear Insurance

Generation is subject to liability, property damage, and other risks associated with major incidents at all of its nuclear stations. Generation has reduced its financial exposure to these risks through insurance and other industry risk-sharing provisions. See “Nuclear Insurance” within Note 19 — Commitments and Contingencies of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

For information regarding property insurance, see ITEM 2. PROPERTIES — Generation. Generation is self-insured to the extent that any losses may exceed the amount of insurance maintained or are within the policy deductible for its insured losses. Such losses could have a material adverse effect on Exelon’s and Generation’s future financial statements.

Decommissioning

NRC regulations require that licensees of nuclear generating facilities demonstrate reasonable assurance that funds will be available in specified minimum amounts at the end of the life of the facility to decommission the facility. The ultimate decommissioning obligation will be funded by the NDT funds. See ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF

Fossil and Renewable Facilities (including Hydroelectric)

Generation wholly owns all of its fossil and renewable generating stations, with the exception of: (1) Wyman; (2) certain wind project entities and a biomass project entity with minority interest owners; and (3) EGRP which is owned 49% by another owner. See Note 23 — Variable Interest Entities of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding EGRP which is a VIE. Generation’s fossil and renewable generating stations are all operated by Generation, with the exception of Wyman, which is operated by a third party. In 2020, 2019, and 2018, electric supply (in GWh) generated from owned fossil and renewable generating facilities was 9%, 11%, and 11%, respectively, of Generation’s total electric supply. The majority of this output was dispatched to support Generation’s wholesale and retail power marketing activities. On December 8, 2020, Generation entered into an agreement to sell a significant portion of Generation's solar business. See ITEM 2. PROPERTIES for additional information regarding Generation's electric generating facilities and Note 2 - Mergers, Acquisitions and Dispositions of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on the sale of Generation's solar business.

Licenses

Fossil and renewable generation plants are generally not licensed, and, therefore, the decision on when to retire plants is, fundamentally, a commercial one. FERC has the exclusive authority to license most non-Federal hydropower projects located on navigable waterways or Federal lands, or connected to the interstate electric grid, which include Generation's Conowingo Hydroelectric Project (Conowingo) and Muddy Run Pumped Storage Facility Project (Muddy Run). Muddy Run's license expires on December 1, 2055. On August 29, 2012, Generation submitted a hydroelectric license application to the FERC for a new license for Conowingo. Based on the FERC procedural schedule, the FERC licensing process for Conowingo was not completed prior to the expiration of the plant’s license on September 1, 2014. As a result, on September 10, 2014, FERC issued an annual license for Conowingo, effective as of the expiration of the previous license. The annual license renews automatically absent any further FERC action. The stations are currently being depreciated over their estimated useful lives, which include actual and anticipated license renewal periods. See Note 3 — Regulatory Matters of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on Conowingo.

Insurance

Generation maintains business interruption insurance for its renewable projects, but not for its fossil and hydroelectric operations unless required by contract or financing agreements. See Note 17 — Debt and Credit Agreements of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on financing agreements. Generation maintains both property damage and liability insurance. For property damage and liability claims for these operations, Generation is self-insured to the extent that losses are within the policy deductible or exceed the amount of insurance maintained. Such losses could have a material adverse effect on Exelon’s and Generation’s future financial conditions and their results of operations and cash flows. For information regarding property insurance, see ITEM 2. PROPERTIES — Generation.

Contracted Generation

In addition to energy produced by owned generation assets, Generation sources electricity from plants it does not own under long-term contracts. The following tables summarize Generation’s long-term contracts to purchase unit-specific physical power with an original term in excess of one year in duration, by region, in effect as of December 31, 2020:

Fuel

The following table shows sources of electric supply in GWh for 2020 and 2019: 

 

The cycle of production and utilization of nuclear fuel includes the mining and milling of uranium ore into uranium concentrates, the conversion of uranium concentrates to uranium hexafluoride, the enrichment of the uranium hexafluoride, and the fabrication of fuel assemblies. Generation has inventory in various forms and does not anticipate difficulty in obtaining the necessary uranium concentrates or conversion, enrichment, or fabrication services to meet the nuclear fuel requirements of its nuclear units.

Natural gas is procured through long-term and short-term contracts, as well as spot-market purchases. Fuel oil inventories are managed so that in the winter months sufficient volumes of fuel are available in the event of extreme weather conditions and during the remaining months to take advantage of favorable market pricing.

Generation uses financial instruments to mitigate price risk associated with certain commodity price exposures, using both over-the-counter and exchange-traded instruments. See ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS, ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS, Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates and Note 16 — Derivative Financial Instruments of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding derivative financial instruments.

Power Marketing

Generation’s integrated business operations include physical delivery and marketing of power. Generation largely obtains physical power supply from its owned and contracted generation in multiple geographic regions. The commodity risks associated with the output from owned and contracted generation is managed using various commodity transactions including sales to customers. The main objective is to obtain low-cost energy supply to meet physical delivery obligations to both wholesale and retail customers. Generation sells electricity, natural gas, and other energy related products and solutions to various customers, including distribution utilities, municipalities, cooperatives, and commercial, industrial, governmental, and residential customers in competitive markets. Where necessary, Generation may also purchase transmission service to ensure that it has reliable transmission capacity to physically move its power supplies to meet customer delivery needs.

Price and Supply Risk Management

Generation also manages the price and supply risks for energy and fuel associated with generation assets and the risks of power marketing activities. Generation implements a three-year ratable sales plan to align its hedging strategy with its financial objectives. Generation may also enter into transactions that are outside of this ratable sales plan. Generation is exposed to commodity price risk in 2021 and beyond for portions of its electricity portfolio that are unhedged. As of December 31, 2020, the percentage of expected generation hedged for the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New York, and ERCOT reportable segments is 94%-97% for 2021. The percentage of expected generation hedged is the amount of equivalent sales divided by the expected generation. Expected generation is the volume of energy that best represents our commodity position in energy markets from owned or contracted generation based upon a simulated dispatch model that makes assumptions regarding future market conditions, which are calibrated to market quotes for power, fuel, load following products, and options. Equivalent sales represent all hedging products, which include economic hedges and certain non-derivative contracts, including sales to the Utility Registrants to serve their retail load. A portion of Generation’s hedging strategy may be implemented through the use of fuel products based on assumed correlations between power and fuel prices. The risk management group and Exelon’s RMC monitor the financial risks of the wholesale and retail power marketing activities. Generation also uses financial and commodity contracts for proprietary trading purposes, but this activity accounts for only a small portion of Generation’s efforts. The proprietary trading portfolio is subject to a risk management policy that includes stringent risk management limits. See ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK for additional information.

Capital Expenditures

Generation’s business is capital intensive and requires significant investments primarily in nuclear fuel and energy generation assets. Generation’s estimated capital expenditures for 2021 include Generation's share of the investment in the co-owned Salem plant and the total capital expenditures for CENG. See ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS, Liquidity and Capital Resources, for additional information regarding projected 2021 capital expenditures.

Utility Registrants

Merger with Pepco Holdings, Inc.

On March 23, 2016, Exelon completed the merger among Exelon, Purple Acquisition Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Exelon (Merger Sub), and PHI. As a result of that merger, Merger Sub was merged into PHI (the PHI merger) with PHI surviving as a wholly owned subsidiary of Exelon and EEDC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Exelon which also owns Exelon's interests in ComEd, PECO, and BGE (through a special purpose subsidiary in the case of BGE). Following the completion of the PHI merger, Exelon, and PHI completed a series of internal corporate organization restructuring transactions resulting in the transfer of PHI’s unregulated business interests to Exelon and Generation and the transfer of PHI, Pepco, DPL, and ACE to a special purpose subsidiary of EEDC.

Utility Operations

Service Territories and Franchise Agreements

The following table presents the size of service territories, populations of each service territory and the number of customers within each service territory for the Utility Registrants as of December 31, 2020:

Utility Regulations

State utility commissions regulate the Utility Registrants' electric and gas distribution rates and service, issuances of certain securities, and certain other aspects of the business. The following table outlines the state commissions responsible for utility oversight.

The Utility Registrants are public utilities under the Federal Power Act subject to regulation by FERC related to transmission rates and certain other aspects of the utilities' business. The U.S. Department of Transportation also regulates pipeline safety and other areas of gas operations for PECO, BGE, and DPL. Additionally, the Utility Registrants are subject to NERC mandatory reliability standards, which protect the nation's bulk power system against potential disruptions from cyber and physical security breaches.

Seasonality Impacts on Delivery Volumes

The Utility Registrants' electric distribution volumes are generally higher during the summer and winter months when temperature extremes create demand for either summer cooling or winter heating. For PECO, BGE, and DPL, natural gas distribution volumes are generally higher during the winter months when cold temperatures create demand for winter heating.

ComEd, BGE, Pepco, and DPL Maryland have electric distribution decoupling mechanisms and BGE has a natural gas decoupling mechanism that eliminate the favorable and unfavorable impacts of weather and customer usage patterns on electric distribution and natural gas delivery volumes. As a result, ComEd's, BGE's, Pepco's, and DPL's Maryland electric distribution revenues and BGE's natural gas distribution revenues are not materially impacted by delivery volumes. PECO's and DPL's Delaware electric distribution revenues and natural gas distribution revenues and ACE's electric distribution revenues are impacted by delivery volumes.

Electric and Natural Gas Distribution Services

The Utility Registrants are allowed to recover reasonable costs and fair and prudent capital expenditures associated with electric and natural gas distribution services and earn a return on those capital expenditures, subject to commission approval. ComEd recovers costs through a performance-based rate formula. ComEd is required to file an update to the performance-based rate formula on an annual basis. PECO's, BGE's, and DPL's electric and gas distribution costs and Pepco's and ACE's electric distribution costs have generally been recovered through traditional rate case proceedings. However, the MDPSC and the DCPSC allow utilities to file multi-year rate plans. In certain instances, the Utility Registrants use specific recovery mechanisms as approved by their respective regulatory agencies.

ComEd, Pepco, and ACE customers have the choice to purchase electricity, and PECO, BGE, and DPL customers have the choice to purchase electricity and natural gas from competitive electric generation and natural gas suppliers. The Utility Registrants remain the distribution service providers for all customers and are obligated to deliver electricity and natural gas to customers in their respective service territories while charging a regulated rate for distribution service. In addition, the Utility Registrants also retain significant default service obligations to provide electricity to certain groups of customers in their respective service areas who do not choose a competitive electric generation supplier. PECO and BGE also retain significant default service obligations to provide natural gas to certain groups of customers in their respective service areas who do not choose a competitive natural gas supplier. For natural gas, DPL does not retain default service obligations for its residential customers.

For customers that choose to purchase electric generation or natural gas from competitive suppliers, the Utility Registrants act as the billing agent and therefore do not record Operating revenues or Purchased power and fuel expense related to the electricity and/or natural gas. For customers that choose to purchase electric generation or natural gas from a Utility Registrant, the Utility Registrants are permitted to recover the electricity and natural gas procurement costs without mark-up and therefore record equal and offsetting amounts of Operating revenues and Purchased power and fuel expense related to the electricity and/or natural gas. As a result, fluctuations in electricity or natural gas sales and procurement costs have no impact on the Utility Registrants’ Net Income.

See ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS, Results of Operations and Note 3 — Regulatory Matters of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding electric and natural gas distribution services.

Procurement of Electricity and Natural Gas

The Utility Registrants' electric supply for its customers is primarily procured through contracts as required by their respective state commissions. The Utility Registrants procure electricity supply from various approved bidders, including Generation. RTO spot market purchases and sales are utilized to balance the utility electric load and supply as required. Charges incurred for electric supply procured through contracts with Generation are included in Purchased power from affiliates on the Utility Registrants' Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income.

PECO's, BGE’s, and DPL's natural gas supplies are purchased from a number of suppliers for terms of up to three years. PECO, BGE, and DPL have annual firm supply and transportation contracts of 132,000 mmcf, 264,000 mmcf and 61,000 mmcf, respectively. In addition, to supplement gas supply at times of heavy winter demands and in the event of temporary emergencies, PECO, BGE, and DPL have available storage capacity from the following sources:

PECO, BGE, and DPL have long-term interstate pipeline contracts and also participate in the interstate markets by releasing pipeline capacity or bundling pipeline capacity with gas for off-system sales. Off-system gas sales are low-margin direct sales of gas to wholesale suppliers of natural gas. Earnings from these activities are shared between the utilities and customers. PECO, BGE, and DPL make these sales as part of a program to balance its supply and cost of natural gas. The off-system gas sales are not material to PECO, BGE, and DPL.

See ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK, Commodity Price Risk (All Registrants), for additional information regarding Utility Registrants' contracts to procure electric supply and natural gas.

Energy Efficiency Programs

The Utility Registrants are generally allowed to recover costs associated with the energy efficiency and demand response programs they offer. Each commission approved program seeks to meet mandated electric consumption reduction targets and implement demand response measures to reduce peak demand. The programs are designed to meet standards required by each respective regulatory agency.

ComEd is allowed to earn a return on its energy efficiency costs. See Note 3 — Regulatory Matters of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

Capital Investment

The Utility Registrants' businesses are capital intensive and require significant investments, primarily in electric transmission and distribution and natural gas transportation and distribution facilities, to ensure the adequate capacity, reliability, and efficiency of their systems. See ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS, Liquidity and Capital Resources, for additional information regarding projected 2021 capital expenditures.

Transmission Services

Under FERC’s open access transmission policy, the Utility Registrants, as owners of transmission facilities, are required to provide open access to their transmission facilities under filed tariffs at cost-based rates approved by FERC. The Utility Registrants and their affiliates are required to comply with FERC’s Standards of Conduct regulation governing the communication of non-public transmission information between the transmission owner’s employees and wholesale merchant employees.

PJM is the regional grid operator and operates pursuant to FERC-approved tariffs. PJM is the transmission provider under, and the administrator of, the PJM Open Access Transmission Tariff (PJM Tariff). PJM operates the PJM energy, capacity, and other markets, and, through central dispatch, controls the day-to-day operations of the bulk power system for the region. The Utility Registrants are members of PJM and provide regional transmission service pursuant to the PJM Tariff. The Utility Registrants and the other transmission owners in PJM have turned over control of certain of their transmission facilities to PJM, and their transmission systems are under the dispatch control of PJM. Under the PJM Tariff, transmission service is provided on a region-wide, open-

access basis using the transmission facilities of the PJM transmission owners at rates based on the costs of transmission service.

The Utility Registrants' transmission rates are established based on a formula that was initially approved by FERC as shown below:

Employees

The Registrants strive to create a workplace that is diverse, innovative, and safe for their employees. In order to provide the services and products that their customers expect, the Registrants must create the best teams. These teams must reflect the diversity of the communities that the Registrants serve. Therefore, the Registrants strive to attract highly qualified and diverse talent and routinely review their hiring and promotion practices to ensure they maintain equitable and bias free processes to neutralize any unconscious bias. The Registrants provide growth opportunities, competitive compensation and benefits, and a variety of training and development programs. The Registrants are committed to helping employees grow their skills and careers largely through numerous training opportunities in technical, safety and business acumen areas, mentorship programs, and continuous feedback and development discussions and evaluations. Employees are encouraged to thrive outside the workplace as well. The Registrants provide a full suite of wellness benefits targeted at supporting work-life balance, physical, mental and financial health, and industry-leading paid leave policies.

The Registrants conduct an employee engagement survey every other year to help identify their successes and areas where they can grow. The survey results are reviewed with senior management and the Exelon Board of Directors.

Diversity Metrics

The following tables show diversity metrics for all employees and management as of December 31, 2020:

Turnover Rates

As turnover is inherent, management succession planning is performed and tracked for all executives and critical key manager positions. Management frequently reviews succession planning to ensure the Registrants are prepared when positions become available.

The table below shows the average turnover rate for all employees for the last three years of 2018 to 2020:

Collective Bargaining Agreements

Approximately 37% of Exelon’s employees participate in CBAs. The following table presents employee information, including information about CBAs, as of December 31, 2020:

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Environmental Regulation

General

The Registrants are subject to comprehensive and complex environmental legislation and regulation at the federal, state, and local levels, including requirements relating to climate change, air and water quality, solid and hazardous waste, and impacts on species and habitats.

The Exelon Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing the management of environmental matters. Exelon has a management team to address environmental compliance and strategy, including the CEO; the Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer; the Senior Vice President, Competitive Market Policy; and the Vice President, Corporate Environmental Strategy, as well as senior management of the Registrants. Performance of those individuals directly involved in environmental compliance and strategy is reviewed and affects compensation as part of the annual individual performance review process. The Exelon Board of Directors has delegated to its Generation Oversight Committee and the Corporate

Governance Committee the authority to oversee Exelon’s compliance with health, environmental, and safety laws and regulations and its strategies and efforts to protect and improve the quality of the environment, including Exelon’s internal climate change and sustainability policies and programs, as discussed in further detail below. The respective Boards of the Utility Registrants oversee environmental, health, and safety issues related to these companies.

Climate Change Mitigation

Exelon supports comprehensive federal climate legislation, including a cap-and-trade program for GHG emissions that addresses the urgent need to substantially reduce national GHG emissions while providing appropriate protections for consumers, businesses, and the economy. In the absence of comprehensive federal legislation, Exelon supports EPA moving forward with meaningful regulation of GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Other GHG emission sources associated with the Utility Registrants include natural gas (methane) leakage on the natural gas systems, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) leakage from electric transmission and distribution operations, refrigerant leakage from chilling and cooling equipment, and fossil fuel combustion in motor vehicles. In addition, PECO, BGE, and DPL distribute natural gas and Generation sells natural gas at retail; and consumers’ use of such natural gas produces GHG emissions.

Eleven northeast and mid-Atlantic states (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia) currently participate in the RGGI, which is in the process of strengthening its requirements. The program requires most fossil fuel-fired power plants in the region to hold allowances, purchased at auction, for each ton of CO2 emissions. Non-emitting resources do not have to purchase or hold these allowances. In October 2019, the Governor of Pennsylvania issued an Executive Order directing the PA DEP to begin a rulemaking process to allow Pennsylvania to join the RGGI, with the goal of reducing carbon emissions from the electricity sector. On November 7, 2020, the PA DEP proposed its rule.

Broader state programs impact other sectors as well, such as New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which establishes statewide emission limits; and Massachusetts’ Clean Energy and Climate Plan, which aims to reduce GHG emissions across all sectors through increased efficiency in buildings and vehicles, the electrification of vehicles and thermal conditioning in buildings, and the replacement of carbon intensive fuels with renewable energy sources.

While the Registrants cannot predict the nature of future regulations or how such regulations might impact future financial statements, Generation has a low emission portfolio, and GHG restrictions would likely benefit zero- and low-emission generating units relative to higher-emission fossil fuel-fired generating units.

In addition, Exelon facilities and operations are subject to the global impacts of climate change. Exelon believes its operations could be significantly affected by the physical risks of climate change. See ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS for additional information.

Renewable and Clean Energy Standards

Thirty states and the District of Columbia, incorporating the vast majority of states where Exelon operates, have adopted some form of renewable or clean energy procurement requirement. These standards impose varying levels of mandates for procurement of renewable or clean electricity (the definition of which varies by state) and/or energy efficiency. These are generally expressed as a percentage of annual electric load, often increasing by year. The Utility Registrants comply with these various requirements through purchasing qualifying renewables, implementing efficiency programs, acquiring sufficient credits (e.g., RECs), paying an alternative compliance payment, and/or a combination of these compliance alternatives. The Utility Registrants are permitted to recover from retail customers the costs of complying with their state RPS requirements, including the procurement of RECs or other alternative energy resources. Illinois, New York, and New Jersey adopted standards targeted at preserving the zero-carbon attributes of certain nuclear-powered generating facilities. Generation owns multiple facilities participating in these programs within these states. Other states in which Exelon operates are considering similar programs.