Constellation Energy Corporation is an American energy company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The company provides electric power, natural gas, and energy management services. It has approximately two million customers across the continental United States.
The company was known as Constellation Energy Group, (former NYSE ticker symbol CEG) a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest electricity producers in the United States, until a merger with Exelon in 2012. When the acquisition was approved by FERC, Constellation Energy's energy supply business was re-branded as Constellation, an Exelon company. As part of the 2012 merger, Baltimore Gas and Electric, the regulated utility operated by Constellation Energy, became a regulated utility operating under Exelon Utilities. The current iteration of the company was founded in 2022 after splitting off from Exelon.
Before merging with Exelon, Constellation Energy Group operated more than 35 power plants in 11 states (mainly Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, and California). Baltimore Gas and Electric created Constellation as a holding company in 1999.
History
On September 15, 2005, Constellation Energy announced a joint venture, UniStar Nuclear, with Areva to market the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) in the United States. On December 19, 2005, FPL Group, Inc. announced the acquisition of Constellation Energy in a merger transaction valued at more than $11 billion as well as the fact that it would adopt Constellation Energy as its name for the post-merger entity. The merger was canceled on 25 October 2006.
On July 1, 2008, Constellation Energy bought uranium trading firm Nufcor International from AngloGold Ashanti and FirstRand International. A year later it was sold to Goldman Sachs.
In September 2008, after reports that Constellation Energy had exposure to Lehman Brothers following that firm's bankruptcy filing, Constellation's stock price dropped 56% in a single day. The massive drop led the New York Stock Exchange to halt trading in Constellation. The next day, as the stock fell as low as $13 a share, the company announced it was hiring Morgan Stanley and UBS to advise it on "strategic alternatives" suggesting a buyout. While French power company Electricite de France (EDF), which already owned 9.5% of Constellation's shares, bid for the company, Constellation ultimately agreed to a buyout by MidAmerican Energy, part of Berkshire Hathaway. However, on December 17, 2008, the firm canceled its merger with Berkshire Hathaway and opted to sell its nuclear energy assets to EDF.
In April 2010, Constellation Energy closed its agreement with Clipper Windpower to acquire the Criterion Wind Project in Garrett County, Maryland, and to purchase 28 Clipper Liberty 2.5-MW wind turbines for the project. Construction was completed in December 2010. In May 2010, the firm acquired two natural gas combined-cycle generation facilities in Texas from Houston-based Navasota Holdings. The $365 million transaction included the Colorado Bend Energy Center, a 550-MW facility near Wharton, Texas, and Quail Run Energy Center, a 550-MW facility near Odessa, Texas. The purchase added 1,100 MW of capacity.
On April 28, 2011, Exelon announced its intention to purchase Constellation Energy. The merger was completed on March 12, 2012.
On May 27, 2011, Constellation Energy announced its intention to purchase StarTex Power, a retail electricity provider in Houston, Texas; the purchase was completed on June 1, 2011. In 2018, the StarTex brand was discontinued and its existing customers were instead served by Constellation. In May 2011, the company acquired MXenergy, a residential and small business energy provider with approximately half a million customers. In December 2011, it announced the acquisition of ONEOK Energy Marketing Co., a natural gas company with customers in the Midwest. In 2011, it contracted to construct and operate for the Toys-R-Us distribution center in Flanders, New Jersey, what was then the largest rooftop solar array ever constructed.