While he reiterated that Exelon supports a state-forward approach where local governments pursue "all options to bring control, certainty and customer benefits to securing power," the CEO said the Maryland Public Service Commission's recent solicitation for dispatchable generation did not meet expectations.

"While we appreciate that they received some responses, our view is that they fall short of what's needed for the state and for PJM more broadly," Butler said. "We'll have to see what the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and other stakeholders recommend to the PSC, but we are more than willing to step up."

Exelon has advocated for states like Maryland to allow utilities to own and operate generation to help alleviate the supply crunch driven by data center development.

Constellation Energy Corp. announced Nov. 4 that it submitted a proposal to build up to 5.8 GW of nuclear and gas generation, as well as battery storage in response to the Maryland PSC's solicitation.

The projects total more than 1.5 GW, including 800 MW of battery storage at four site already owned by Constellation, and two separate gas-fired projects, one for 564 MW and one for 150 MW, at an unnamed but existing Constellation facility. These could be converted to run on hydrogen in the future, Constellation said. The plans also include the potential to extend the operational usefulness of more than 350 MW of existing, unnamed Maryland power plants.

"If the competitive market is willing to step up and fill this need to meet us where we are at this time and not relying on the old rules of the past, we're okay, but it's time to move forward and continue to be progressive and aggressive in what we're trying to do for the state," Butler said about Constellation's proposal.

Exelon's large-load inquiry pipeline, meanwhile, grew to more than 18 GW of "highly probable" load, according to Executive Vice President and CFO Jeanne Jones.

"What we're really trying to do is, before we move it to that column, to do two things: one, complete the cluster study … and then from there, once we provide that information to customers, have them sign the [transmission service agreement (TSA)]," Jones said.

That process also helps to avoid double-counting potential connections and "really focus on who's real and who's not," Butler added.

PJM's independent market monitor, however, urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in October to reject a transmission service agreement for Exelon's Philadelphia-area subsidiary, PECO Energy Co., to serve an Amazon Web Services Inc. data center unless the utility can prove that the load could be served reliably and economically.

"While PECO performed tests to determine if the transmission system could reliably serve the large new data center load, neither PECO nor PJM performed comparable tests to determine if there is adequate generation capacity to reliably serve the large new data center load and others like it," the market monitor wrote.

Butler maintained that "the TSA approach ensures we strike the right balance in prioritizing large loads, while ensuring our existing customers are protected."

"It's similar to what we've had historically on the distribution side, where you have deposits and letters of credit and other things that help protect the other customers should the demand that we build for not show up," Jones said.

Exelon reported third-quarter adjusted operating earnings of $874 million, or 86 cents per share, compared to $708 million, or 71 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

The S&P Capital IQ consensus normalized EPS estimate for Exelon in the third quarter of 2025 was 78 cents per share.

The company reaffirmed a 2025 adjusted earnings EPS guidance range of $2.64 to $2.74 per share.