WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 9, 2015) - A citywide town hall meeting on the proposed Pepco Holdings-Exelon merger drew a standing-room crowd of about 250 people at the Howard Theatre last night.

The event, which also was live-streamed online, was moderated by Denise Rolark Barnes, publisher of the Washington Informer. David Velazquez, executive vice president of Power Delivery for Pepco Holdings, and Bill Von Hoene, senior executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Exelon, described the merger's benefits for the District and answered questions, along with Donna Cooper, region president of Pepco, and Melissa Sherrod, vice president of Corporate Affairs for Exelon. Barnes asked the executives to respond to criticism of the merger from opponents before opening questions to audience members in attendance and watching online.

"We have deep roots in the District of Columbia and have been a part of this community for more than 100 years," said Velazquez, who will be CEO of Pepco Holdings and Pepco after the merger is completed. "We are committed to this community and helping the residents. This merger provides real, tangible and long-term benefits, and we want to provide them to our customers."

Velazquez and Von Hoene explained that the companies recently reached a merger settlement with the District of Columbia government, Office of the People's Counsel, Attorney General and others that provides substantially enhanced benefits to District residents, including bill credits, low-income assistance, fewer and shorter outages, a cleaner and greener D.C., and investment in local jobs and the local economy. That settlement is currently being considered by the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia (PSC).

"We want to be a part of this community, and we have three top-performing utilities that will provide best practices and resources to help Pepco improve the service it delivers to District of Columbia residents," Von Hoene said. "We will prove Exelon is a company worthy of the District, a company that is committed to the highest levels of performance and customer service, and a company that does right by our customers, communities and the environment."

The merger has widespread support in the community, as evidenced by the dozens of people who testified about its benefits at the PSC community hearing last month and the tens of thousands of people who have shown their support by signing petitions and sending letters to the PSC. A majority of Council of the District of Columbia members also recognize the substantial benefits to District under the settlement and submitted a letter to the commission encouraging approval of the merger.

The merger has been approved in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Virginia and by federal regulators. The D.C. PSC is the only remaining approval needed. The PSC has set a schedule for completing the proceeding by the first quarter of 2016.