ComEd 2007 Annual Report Download - page 7

5
sustainable operations
Exelon’s remarkable performance in 2007 was led by another great year for our
generation business. Our world-class nuclear fleet, led by Chris Crane and Chip
Pardee, set company records for production (132.3 million net MWh) and capacity
factor (94.5 percent).We have achieved a nuclear capacity factor above 93 percent
in each of the past five years, a consistent level of excellence unparalleled in our
industry. Our renewable and fossil assets performed well under the leadership
of Mark Schiavoni. Our hydro fleet maintained a near-record equivalent availability
factor (94.7 percent), and our fossil fleet ended the year with a solid 91.2 percent
commercial availability factor.
Our power marketing team completed another year of enhancing the value of
our generation assets. Despite lower than expected load volume in the east,
Ian McLean, Ken Cornew and our Power Team successfully bid into PJM’s new
Reliability Pricing Model (RPM), met or exceeded our publicly stated hedging
goals and tirelessly worked to optimize our portfolio. These steps have helped to
secure the value we promise to deliver to you each year.
Our delivery companies likewise performed well, although we are still seeking
consistent top quartile performance. Under Frank Clark and Barry Mitchell,
ComEd achieved its best non-storm outage duration in 10 years and earned
both industry recognition and regulatory praise for its response to August’s
“storm of the decade.” PECO recorded better-than-target reliability numbers,
including distinguished performance in interruption frequency and managed a
very warm summer without significant incident. Denis O’Brien and his team
have spent countless hours with Pennsylvania legislators addressing transition
to market issues. I remain confident that they will deliver a reasonable solution
on this front.
Under the leadership of John Young, our finance group continued to demonstrate
the disciplined financial management that has been a hallmark of Exelon’s
performance. We executed a $1.25 billion accelerated share repurchase in
September and announced an additional $500 million repurchase in December.
We also have announced that our dividend will increase by 14 percent in 2008.
John has left Exelon to assume a CEO position but Ian McLean, Matt Hilzinger
and Michael Metzner are committed to maintaining the financial rigor and
integrity that you have come to expect.
And last, but certainly not least, our Business Services Company again performed
admirably in its role as a provider of low-cost, quality support services. Ruth Ann
Gillis and her team continue to ensure that all of the Exelon companies operate
with the best resources available.
The value we have
delivered to you is a
result of consistent
and disciplined
work of the Exelon
management team
and our employees