The companies claim the merger will result in lower rates.
See KYW report:
I do not see how the merger will lower electric rates. There are very few economies of scale. The biggest economy -- sharing power -- was set up many years ago by the PJM grid.
I think PECO (owned by Exelon of Chicago) is already too big and the more modest sized companies are more responsive to the needs of their own communities.
For the present there is the PECO HQ in Philadelphia and the PSE&G HQ in Newark NJ and they say they'll remain. But after a few years "for efficiency" they may close these buildings and move everything to Exelon HQ in Chicago. So, when reporting troubles instead of talking to a regional representative who has some idea of the area, you'll talk to someone in Chicago who knows nothing. If you have a downed wire in Bryn Mawr PA, will then send the truck to the Chicago suburb of Bryn Mawr IL (or vice versa)? Highland Park NJ or Highland Park IL? Mayfair IL or Mayfair (Phl) PA? I'm not kidding -- dispatchers in large centers make these mistakes and homes burn down in the process.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: While Highland Park could be either New Jersey or Illinois (I guess, if you say so; I never heard of the New Jersey version) in the instance of Bryn Mawr, there is no such suburb in the Chicago area. There _is_ a Bryn Mawr Avenue in Chicago (and continuing in a near northwest suburb) and there is a CTA train stop known as 'Bryn Mawr' (logically, on the street by the same name) and there is, oddly enough, a 'Bryn Mawr' station on the Illinois Central suburban line on the southeast side of Chicago; but no Bryn Mawr as a town or neighborhood around Chicago. There, did I leave the water muddy enough? PAT]