$74 million increase from 2017 brings total to 35 percent of all purchases, highest in company history

BALTIMORE (April 11, 2019) – BGE purchased $326 million in goods and services from diversity-certified suppliers in 2018, representing 35 percent of the company's total purchases—its highest ever—and a $74 million increase over the amount spent last year.

"By working with diverse suppliers and contractors, we have strengthened our ability to serve our customers while supporting our community. This is a win-win, and we encourage other businesses to see how they can emphasize diversity and inclusion and operational excellence at the same time," said Calvin G. Butler Jr., chief executive officer for BGE. "As we've expanded our network of suppliers to be more inclusive, we have improved our reliability, safety, financials and customer satisfaction. We've shown you can widen the pool of suppliers and still deliver stellar results."

In 2009, BGE voluntarily committed to the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) to award 25 percent of company spending to diverse suppliers. To help meet this goal, BGE created the Focus Forward supplier diversity academy to educate small businesses on how to navigate large business processes and competitively bid for contract opportunities.

Maryland businesses accounted for $172 million of BGE's diverse spending, with $23 million spent in Baltimore City. BGE is also sharing the Focus Forward program with its BLocal partners to help them meet their commitments to build, hire, buy and invest in Baltimore City. BLocal is a commitment by Baltimore-area businesses to leverage their collective influence to help strengthen the city and create opportunities for Baltimoreans.

Diversity and inclusion is one of the core foundational values for BGE and its parent company, Exelon, both in the workplace and in its engagement with customers and the communities it serves. Exelon has increased spending with women and minority-owned businesses by more than 200 percent since 2011, reaching $2.20 billion in 2018.

Exelon also enables businesses to register with the company and include pertinent information, including their diversity status. To be considered as a supplier, companies can access the SMART by GEP tool via http://www.exeloncorp.com/suppliers.

###

BGE, founded in 1816 as the nation's first gas utility and headquartered in Baltimore, is Maryland's largest natural gas and electric utility. The company's approximately 3,200 employees are committed to safe and reliable energy delivery to more than 1.25 million electric customers and more than 650,000 natural gas customers in central Maryland.  In the J.D. Power 2017 and 2018 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study^SM BGE was ranked Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Business Electric Service in the East among Large Utilities. In addition, in the J.D. Power 2018 Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study^SM  BGE received Best in Customer Satisfaction with Business Natural Gas Service in the East. BGE is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation's leading competitive energy provider. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube  and Flickr.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (or "BGE") received the highest score in the East Large segment of the 2018 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study and the East Region of the 2018 Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study of electric and gas utility customer satisfaction among business customers. Visit jdpower.com/awards.