Constellation Energy has a long and pioneering history in the energy industry. From our roots as the nation’s first gas light utility, our company has evolved into one of the largest and most innovative energy companies in America. Constellation Energy is a publicly traded (NYSE ticker: CEG) Fortune 500 leader, headquartered in Baltimore, with nearly 10,000 employees, approximately 12,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $14.3 billion in annual revenues (2010).
And nearly 200 years later, we’re still innovating at Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), Maryland’s oldest and largest utility. BGE is poised to roll out one of the most comprehensive Smart Grid programs in the nation.
A Unique Business Model — Customer-Centric and Competitive
Constellation Energy’s customer-centric business model is unique in the industry. The company is committed to advancing competition in energy markets. Competition drives innovation, provides choices for customers and helps to keep energy costs as low as possible. One recent Constellation Energy innovation is VirtuWatt, a versatile and feature-rich online application that enables industrial energy users to significantly lower costs by reducing power usage during times of peak demand.
Our company is built to compete and win across the energy spectrum. We’re made up of a diverse, yet complementary, mix of businesses. We generate, manage and supply energy products and services to a broad spectrum of customers nationwide. Our businesses serve the largest commercial, industrial and public-sector power and gas users, as well as the small business and residential community.
Constellation Energy’s competitive power and natural gas energy supply businesses are leaders nationwide, serving more than 30,000 customers coast-to-coast. We sell electricity and natural gas to the nation’s largest and best known brand name companies…in fact, two-thirds of the companies on the Fortune 100 index are Constellation Energy customers.
Our wholesale electricity supply business has been an industry leader for nearly a decade. This business provides power to utilities and municipal co-ops nationwide, providing these institutions with a reliable and uninterrupted power supply 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In the residential sector, our BGE HOME subsidiary is one of the largest and most respected energy service providers in central Maryland. In 2010, Constellation Energy expanded into residential electric supply markets in Maryland and New Jersey with competitive pricing plans allowing customers to make meaningful reductions in their electricity rates. We continued the expansion into residential electric supply in 2011 in Illinois and we are evaluating additional markets for growth opportunities.
A Commitment to Clean Energy
The company’s power generation fleet has assets in Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Texas, California, Utah and Alberta, Canada. Additionally, Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, LLC (CENG), a joint venture of Constellation Energy and global nuclear leader EDF Group (EDF), owns and operates three nuclear plants with five units in New York State and Maryland. More than 65 percent of the power produced by our fleet is clean energy or low emitting natural gas, making our generation portfolio one of the low carbon emitters in the industry, based on the most recent annual data. In March 2010 we recently completed a $1.1 billion program of environmental upgrades, including the installation of air emissions control equipment called “scrubbers” at our Brandon Shores Power Plant. This upgrade makes Brandon Shores in Maryland one of the cleanest-burning coal power plants of its kind in the nation. And later this fall, a newly installed array of solar panels will help to power the energy requirements for the plant.
Constellation Energy is committed to clean energy sources and renewable energy solutions for our own operations and for our customers. The company’s growing clean-energy portfolio includes approximately 1,000 megawatts of renewable power generation owned or under contract from sources, including utility-scale solar, hydro, wind and biomass power plants. Constellation Energy also works with commercial customers to develop distributed solar solutions. Approximately 60 megawatts of solar installations owned and operated by Constellation Energy have been completed or are under development for customers.
In 2011 we completed construction of Criterion Wind, Maryland’s first commercial wind energy project, and will soon begin construction of one of the nation’s largest commercial solar installations, also in western Maryland.
We’re also an emerging leader in offering innovative demand response products, which help customers lower energy demand – and spending – during periods of peak usage and high prices. To help its customers manage their energy usage and spending, BGE in early 2011 will begin installation of one of the most advanced Smart Grid networks in the nation. The project will be funded in part by up to $200 million in federal stimulus spending; BGE was one of just a handful of utility’s nationwide to receive the maximum stimulus award. The utility’s customers could save as much as $2.6 billion over the life of the Smart Grid program.
In November 2009, we broadened our relationship with EDF, completing the $4.7 billion sale to EDF of a 49.99 percent ownership interest in Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG), our nuclear generation business. CENG’s assets include 3,839 megawatts of owned capacity. CENG owns and operates nuclear units at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, Md., Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in Scriba, N.Y., and R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant in Ontario, N.Y. The addition of a global partner strengthened CENG’s role as a nuclear industry leader. CENG’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant was the first in the nation to receive 20-year license extensions, enabling two 800-megawatt carbon-free generating units to operate until 2034 and 2036.
A Commitment to Growth and to the Communities We Serve
The energy sector landscape is shifting rapidly. To compete and win, our people and our business processes must be nimble and adaptable. Our employees are resourceful and embrace a can-do mindset…we believe the Constellation Energy team is the best in the business. We’re committed to an ambitious growth strategy; our goal is to become the industry’s most innovative and trusted energy adviser to an expanding base of business, government and residential customers nationwide.
We’re equally committed to the communities we serve, giving one percent or more of our annual operating income to support charitable organizations and causes. In 2010, we launched the innovative EcoStar Grants program, awarding 62 EcoStar Grants totaling $300,000 to community-based environmental stewardship projects in 14 states. In 2010, our employees helped Constellation Energy raise more than $4 million for the United Way, with the company matching 50 cents for every employee dollar pledged to United Way chapters and charities nationwide. We remain the largest corporate contributor to the United Way in central Maryland, Calvert County, Maryland, and Greater Oswego County, New York.