By Nate Raymond
Nov 14 (Reuters) - Exelon Corp agreed to pay $400,000 to
settle U.S. claims it violated a court order entered to receive
government clearance of its acquisition of Constellation Energy
Group Inc last year, prosecutors said in a court filing
Wednesday.
Exelon allegedly submitted offers to sell electricity at
rates higher than limits imposed by the order, the U.S. Justice
Department said in a filing in U.S. District Court in
Washington.
Exelon called the above-cost offers "inadvertent," the court
filing said. The company took steps to remedy the issue,
including by notifying regulators and agreeing to return any
revenues it earned from the increases, the filing said.
But the Justice Department said Exelon also failed to take
"all steps necessary" steps to comply with the order. That
failure, the government said, was not addressed by Exelon's
remedial efforts.
"The settlement remedies this violation and unjust
enrichment by depriving Exelon of ill-gotten gains," the Justice
Department said in the filing.
Paul Elsberg, a spokesman for Exelon, did not respond to a
request for comment after normal business hours.
The court order Exelon allegedly violated was entered in a
lawsuit the Justice Department filed in December 2011 contending
that the company's $7.9 billion acquisition of Constellation
Energy would lessen competition for wholesale electricity.
The Justice Department announced a settlement agreement at
the same time as the lawsuit, allowing the merger to go forward
on certain conditions.
The case is U.S. v. Exelon Corporation, U.S. District Court,
District of Columbia, No. 11-02276.
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