Exelon 2014 Annual Report Download - page 53

ComEd, PECO and BGE mitigate commodity price risk through regulatory mechanisms that allow them to recover procurement
costs from retail customers.
Growth Opportunities
With an emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship, Exelon is currently pursuing growth in both the utility and competitive energy
businesses. Identifying and capitalizing on emerging trends and technologies, Exelon plans to invest in new innovative technologies
to compete with a new breed of energy players, leverage new technologies to create new or expand existing businesses, and
improve productivity and efficiencies within our existing businesses. Management continually evaluates growth opportunities aligned
with Exelon’s businesses, assets and markets, leveraging Exelon’s expertise in those areas.
Competitive Energy Businesses
Generation continues to pursue growth in its existing businesses and markets and further diversification across the competitive
energy value chain.
•Leveraging its competencies,
• Generation’s 2014 acquisition of Integrys allows Generation to expand its retail footprint further in an industry sector that
continues to mature and consolidate and provides hedging and diversification benefits to its existing portfolio.
• Generation continues to pursue investment opportunities in renewables, in its nuclear uprate program and in the
development of natural gas generation plants that is supported by the trend of increasing natural gas supply.
•Investing in business diversification to position the company for the future,
• Generation has launched a business in competitive distributed generation that capitalizes on the push toward a
decentralized system.
• Generation is also making investments across the natural gas value chain throughout North America, focusing initially on
expansion of the existing Upstream and wholesale gas businesses, as well as entry into liquefied natural gas.
Regulated Energy Businesses
The proposed acquisition of PHI provides an opportunity to accelerate Exelon’s regulated growth and provide stable cash flows,
earnings accretion, and dividend stability. Additionally, ComEd, PECO and BGE anticipate making significant future investments in
infrastructure modernization, including smart meter and smart grid initiatives, storm hardening, and advanced reliability technologies.
Upon obtaining various approvals, ComEd also plans to invest approximately $280 million to construct the Grand Prairie Gateway
Transmission Line in Illinois alleviating identified congestion and enhancing reliability. ComEd, PECO and BGE invest in rate base
where it provides a net benefit to customers and the community by increasing reliability and the service experience or otherwise
meeting customer needs. These investments are made prudently and at the lowest reasonable cost to customers.
See Note 3—Regulatory Matters of the Combined Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on the
Smart Meter and Smart Grid Initiatives.
Liquidity
Each of the Registrants annually evaluates its financing plan, dividend practices and credit line sizing, focusing on maintaining its
investment grade ratings while meeting its cash needs to fund capital requirements, retire debt, pay dividends, fund pension and
OPEB obligations and invest in new and existing ventures. A broad spectrum of financing alternatives beyond the core financing
options can be used to meet its needs and fund growth including monetizing assets in the portfolio via project financing, asset sales,
and the use of other financing structures (e.g., joint ventures, minority partners, etc.). The Registrants expect cash flows to be
sufficient to meet operating expenses, financing costs and capital expenditure requirements.
Exelon, Generation, ComEd, PECO and BGE have unsecured syndicated revolving credit facilities with aggregate bank
commitments of $0.5 billion, $5.3 billion, $1.0 billion, $0.6 billion and $0.6 billion, respectively. Generation also has bilateral credit
facilities with aggregate maximum availability of $0.5 billion. See Liquidity and Capital Resources—Credit Matters—Exelon Credit
Facilities below.
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