One of the most closely watched power sector mergers of the decade was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission late March 9, 2012. But before Constellation Energy and Exelon could merge into the single, massive integrated utility they are now set to become, Constellation settled with the same federal regulator that had to approve its merger transaction. A civil penalty of $135 million is compounded by a $110 million ‘disgorgement’ of profit (plus interest) to allow the $7.9 billion deal to go through.

The merger has been nearly a year in the making. Read more about the potential impacts of the merger following the announcement of the merger in April 2011 here.