Peco CEO steps aside after quick withdrawal of Pa. rate request
Peco requested a rate increase from Pennsylvania regulators late last month, then pulled back the request weeks later.
David Vahos has left the top job at Peco after less than a year in the role.
The leadership change by the Philadelphia area’s main energy utility comes after the company withdrew its half-billion-dollar rate hike request, following pushback from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and consumer groups over the rising price of power.
The proposal would have boosted average electric bills by 12.5% for 1.7 million Peco power users in Philadelphia and most of its suburbs, and suburban gas bills for over 500,000 suburban users by an average 11.4%.
Peco said it needed the money to upgrade the power system as demand rises after years of flat or declining power use. Critics noted the company had posted rising profits after previous rate increases. In withdrawing the plan, Vahos acknowledged “significant financial pressures” and price inflation already hitting consumers and businesses.
Vahos’ predecessor, Mike Innocenzo, Peco’s CEO from 2018-2024, will step back into the job on an interim basis, the company said.
Innocenzo more recently served as Peco’s chief operating officer and will continue in that role as well as managing Vahos’ responsibilities pending a permanent replacement.
Vahos has been reassigned as special adviser to Chicago-based Calvin Butler, chief executive of Peco’s owner, Exelon. Vahos had worked previously as chief financial officer of Exelon’s Pepco Holdings, whose utilities supply power to most of Delaware and Washington, D.C., and parts of Maryland and South Jersey. He came to Peco with a mandate to arrange and finance increased power supply to support new data centers and other users.
On April 16, Peco filed a petition with Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission to withdraw its electric and gas rate proposals, 17 days after they were submitted.
Exelon stated in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that Peco needs to address the needs of its customers, reliability of the grid, and its relations with regulators and the public before planning new plants or proposing rate hikes.
The company also noted Maryland legislators had passed a law, the Relief Act, that would change ratemaking rules for Peco’s sister Exelon-owned companies that provide energy across Maryland.
“I am honored to once again lead Peco,” and to focus on “affordable energy for our customers,” Innocenzo said in a statement.
A Widener University engineering and Villanova University MBA graduate, who also served a term as chair for the region’s Chamber of Commerce, Innocenzo has held a succession of electrical and gas system management jobs since joining Peco in 1988.
Staff writers Frank Kummer and Erin McCarthy contributed to this article.
