CLAIM #69810 · EXC (EXC) · 2026Q2 earnings call · Jul 30, 2026 · due Dec 31, 2026
“Operationally, we continue to lead the industry, with all utilities projecting top-quartile reliability and ComEd and PHI projected in the top decile.”
Calvin Butler · CEO
In context
“Calvin Butler (President and Chief Executive Officer): Thank you, Ryan, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for our second quarter earnings call. Halfway through 2026, Exelon is delivering where it matters most: performing today and preparing for tomorrow. Our utilities are providing safe, reliable service, driving affordability, and investing in the infrastructure that keeps our customers, communities, and economies thriving. This morning, we reported adjusted operating earnings of $0.43 per share, consistent with expectations, and are reaffirming our full-year guidance of $2.81 to $2.91 per share. Operationally, we continue to lead the industry, with all utilities projecting top-quartile reliability and ComEd and PHI projected in the top decile. Those of you who are from Chicagoland know that this has been quite a year for storms. So far this year, ComEd has experienced 16 major weather events, more than it has seen in over two decades, while Illinois has recorded more tornadoes than any other state. Most recently, Monday’s severe storms impacted approximately 530,000 customers. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our crews and support teams, power was restored to 90% of affected customers within 48 hours. These results reflect disciplined investment in grid resilience and a sustained focus on delivering safe, reliable service for our customers when they need it most. Reliability is about more than metrics. When the grid performs, businesses keep their doors open, hospitals care for patients, and families can count on the power being there when they need it most. In 2025 alone, our top-quartile reliability saved customers an estimated $1 billion in avoided outage costs. And annual customer interruptions have declined by nearly 2 million since 2021. And for every $1 million Exelon invests, an average of eight jobs are created or $1.7 million of economic output is generated. We are proud of the indispensable role we play in supporting the communities and businesses that depend on us every day. Now, turning to regulatory activity, we remain on track in the Pepco Maryland and DPL Delaware electric rate cases, as well as ComEd’s grid plan. Earlier this month, we also filed a rate case at BGE, with a decision expected in January 2027. Jeanne will cover the details, but the filing reflects our approach to balancing affordability with the investments required to maintain a safe and reliable grid. To help manage customer impacts, BGE delayed its filing, deferred select projects, and prioritized the maintenance and reliability work most critical to serving customers safely. The work our men and women perform every day is critical to our communities, and we cannot delay any further. If critical work is deferred for too long, customers ultimately pay the price through more outages, more costly repairs, and higher long-term costs. As demand grows and weather-related stress increases, the need to maintain and strengthen the grid remains. Long-term affordability depends on a strong, resilient system. Across Exelon, affordability and reliability are being addressed together. We manage expenses carefully, deploy capital where it creates the greatest customer value, and support customers through assistance programs and energy savings initiatives. We are also taking steps to ensure growth benefits existing customers rather than burdening them. As new large-load customers connect to our system, we are structuring agreements that require real financial commitments tied to the infrastructure needed to serve them. FERC’s recent large-load dockets reinforced that approach, recognizing the need to protect existing customers while ensuring that large loads have real commitments behind their projects. This is exactly the principle behind our transmission security agreements, which are helping to protect customers by filtering out speculative requests before significant system investments are made, creating a clear picture of actionable demand. Despite these efforts, the extreme heat and system demand in July made one thing very clear: affordability cannot be solved through cost discipline alone. It also requires new supply. At the beginning of the month, PJM was pushed to its limits. Demand hit a record peak of 168 gigawatts. PJM activated emergency procedures and called on demand response resources to maintain reliability, while power prices surged tenfold, from roughly $80 to $800 per megawatt-hour. Now, the grid held, and our teams did their job, but the system should not have to operate this close to the edge. And this is not a one-off event. This pressure is further evidenced by PJM’s most recent capacity auction. For the third consecutive auction, prices cleared at the FERC-approved price cap. Even so, the market fell short of PJM’s reliability requirement by approximately 6.8 gigawatts, larger than the prior 6.5-gigawatt shortfall, which is the equivalent of roughly seven nuclear reactors of missing supply. Even more telling, only about 525 megawatts of new generation and upgrades cleared, indicating that even at the highest allowed price, the market is not attracting the level of new supply the system needs. Absent the FERC-approved price cap of $330 per megawatt-day, PJM’s own simulation shows prices would have cleared at approximately $555 per megawatt-day across the footprint and $777 in ComEd, indicating the underlying scarcity is even more severe than the headline price suggests. The July heat event, auction results, and market price signals all point to the same conclusion: demand is growing faster than supply, and the system is under increasing strain. Our customers should not pay the price of a system that has been allowed to run too thin, and they should not have to wait years for solutions that are needed today. That is why Exelon is advocating for an all-of-the-above approach: transmission, demand-side solutions, market resources, and utility-owned generation where it makes sense. We are continuing the dialogue with our states and participating in FERC and PJM processes to advocate for policies that protect customers and help deliver energy reliably and cost-effectively. This is where the Exelon platform matters. Our scale, experience, and relationships across multiple states allow us to move from identifying the problems to advancing real solutions. First, transmission. Exelon continues to lead on transmission expansion because reliability starts with the ability to move power where it is needed most. Transmission helps relieve localized constraints, connect new resources, and strengthen the grid as demand grows. That momentum continues with the recent submission of two additional MISO Tranche 2.1 competitive transmission bids in partnership with Invenergy. We will continue to leverage our scale, expertise, and strong development partnerships to pursue transmission opportunities across and beyond our footprint. Second, utility-generated power and storage. We are proposing solutions that give states more control, more certainty, and more direct customer benefits. Utility-generated power and storage can add supply, improve reliability, and put downward pressure on long-term costs, with the accountability and lower-cost capital utilities are uniquely positioned to provide. This is not about ideology. It is about outcomes: reliable service, lower long-term costs, and greater energy security for customers. For example, during the extreme heat and record demand over the July 4 weekend, an Atlantic City Electric battery storage unit serving a New Jersey beach community was dispatched to support the grid. That one asset helped maintain reliability during a period of system stress, demonstrating the practical customer and grid benefits these investments can deliver. We have also seen these benefits play out elsewhere. Earlier this month, ERCOT served a record peak demand of more than 91 gigawatts without emergency actions or curtailment requests, while power prices remained relatively stable at roughly $40 per megawatt-hour during the peak hour. Renewables and battery storage played a significant role in meeting that demand while supporting both reliability and affordability. Building on that momentum, we recently announced a significant new 500-megawatt battery storage project in New Jersey. And we continue to see storage as an important tool for customers because it is fast, flexible, and targeted. Had our battery project been operating during the July 2 through July 5 heat wave, Atlantic City Electric customers would have realized approximately $7.5 million of energy cost savings that could have been returned to customers to help offset higher market prices. Storage solutions can provide peak capacity, improve reliability in constrained areas, support affordability, and help states meet their energy goals. The benefits are real, measurable, and already being demonstrated today. Lastly, energy efficiency and virtual power plants. Several of our utilities recently received approval for VPP programs that turn customer-sited resources into grid capacity. That helps reduce peak demand, lowers pressure on the system, and gives customers a direct role in the solution. Taken together, these are all practical solutions. They also are areas where Exelon can deploy capital with discipline, where there is a clear customer need and strong execution visibility. We are not waiting for the market to solve this on its own. We are bringing forward actionable solutions that strengthen reliability, improve affordability, and give our states more tools to shape their energy future. Now, with that, I will turn it over to Jeanne to walk through our financial performance and provide additional details on our rate case activity and outlook. Jeanne?”
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SEC filings for EXC ↗ · Claim quote is verbatim from the 2026Q2 earnings call.