Constellation Energy Files Federal Action to Affirm 1999 Multi-Party Settlement Agreement

BALTIMORE, March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Constellation Energy NYSE: CEG announced that its subsidiaries, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) and Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Inc., have filed a lawsuit in Federal Court today to affirm BGE's 1999 electric restructuring agreement, which was approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission and subsequently upheld by two Maryland courts.

The filing also seeks to prevent the State of Maryland from continuing with the unconstitutional taking from Constellation Energy shareholders of $386 million under Senate Bill 1, which was passed during a special session of the Maryland Legislature in June 2006.

"The sanctity of an agreement is a basic tenet of business and cannot be selectively and unilaterally changed many years later, particularly after the other party has fully performed its obligations under the agreement," said Mayo A. Shattuck III, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Constellation Energy. "This means a contract is a contract, and the state must abide by the rule of law. The facts regarding these issues are very well established. The legality of the 1999 agreement has been reviewed and upheld as a part of two prior court rulings.

"Additionally, we do not believe it is appropriate that the Maryland Legislature can limit, as it attempted through Senate Bill 1, Constellation Energy's ability, or for that matter any Maryland citizen, to seek Federal Court protection from legislative actions that violate the U.S. Constitution.

"We take this action reluctantly and only after pursuing alternative approaches to resolving these disputes," said Shattuck. "The issues at stake in this matter are vitally important for Maryland's economy and every company conducting business here now or in the future. We are hoping to bring these matters to final resolution so our company and the state's leadership can begin a more productive and positive dialogue related to energy policy and related investment, and more broadly speaking, the future of energy in the State of Maryland."

Constellation Energy (http://www.constellation.com), a FORTUNE 125 company with 2007 revenues of $21 billion, is the nation's largest competitive supplier of electricity to large commercial and industrial customers and the nation's largest wholesale power seller. Constellation Energy also manages fuels and energy services on behalf of energy-intensive industries and utilities. It owns a diversified fleet of 78 generating units located throughout the United States, totaling approximately 8,700 megawatts of generating capacity. The company delivers electricity and natural gas through the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), its regulated utility in Central Maryland.

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