PECO Energy Company and Commonwealth Edison
Co-founder 2000Background
The modern corporate structure of Exelon Corporation was established in 2000 when PECO Energy Company and Commonwealth Edison executed a landmark, $34 billion merger of equals, driven by the realization that the impending deregulation of the power markets required scale, operational efficiency, and financial firepower to survive. This founding philosophy was rooted in the belief that vertical integration and regulatory mastery were the keys to long-term survival, a principle that led the company to build a multi-jurisdictional distribution network that remains the foundation of the modern pure-play utility enterprise.
Role at Exelon Corporation
Exelon possesses a deep, corporate lineage, tracing its roots to the dawn of commercial electricity and the legendary ambition of the man who invented the modern utility business model: Samuel Insull. The modern conglomerate is the product of a 2000 merger between PECO Energy (Philadelphia) and Unicom (the parent company of Commonwealth Edison in Chicago). The foundational DNA of the company lies with Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), founded in 1907 by Samuel Insull. Insull was originally Thomas Edison's personal secretary, but he moved to Chicago and built an unprecedented energy empire. Insull was a financial visionary. While other early utilities operated small, inefficient neighborhood power plants, Insull realized that electricity was a natural monopoly. He bought up all the small, fragmented power companies in Chicago and consolidated them. His foundational breakthrough was the concept of the 'load factor.' He realized that if he built efficient, centralized power plants, he needed to sell electricity 24 hours a day to pay off the capital cost. He pushed for the electrification of streetcar systems (which ran during the day) and industrial factories (which ran at night). Insull invented the capital-intensive, regulated monopoly model that defines the entire American utility industry today. Although his holding company empire tragically collapsed during the Great Depression, the foundational physical grid and the fundamental economic architecture he built in Chicago remain the core of the modern Exelon corporation.