Two key Maryland counties have agreed to support the controversial takeover of Pepco by Exelon in return for promises of bill credits, reliability improvements and other concessions.

Eversource will sell its New Hampshire plants to satisfy regulators’ divestiture demands and resolve a long-standing dispute over the cost of pollution controls.

NRG Energy will continue to focus on its residential solar and renewable energy technology businesses, despite posting losses in those units in 2014.

D.C.’s consumer advocate asked the PSC last week for more time to respond to Exelon’s sweetened offer in its proposed $6.8 billion acquisition of Pepco.

Exelon’s year-long lobbying campaign has won bipartisan backing for a bill that would charge Illinois electricity users a fee to ensure continued operation of three nuclear generators that the company says are unprofitable.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a bill last week that suspends the SCC’s reviews of Dominion Virginia Power’s base rates for the next seven years.

In a bid to win D.C.’s approval of its takeover of Pepco, Exelon last week more than doubled the amount of customer credits it is offering.

Duke Energy said Friday that it had reached a $102.2 million settlement with the federal government to end the investigation into the Dan River ash spill and the company’s ash basin operations at other North Carolina plants.

Fourth-quarter earnings of NIPSCO parent NiSource rose to $154.2 million ($0.49/share), up nearly 2% from $151.8 million ($0.48/share) a year ago.

ConEd reported lower fourth-quarter earnings for 2014, but its $0.58/share showing for ongoing operations beat analysts’ consensus by 2 cents.