Exhibit 99
                                                                      ----------

(Issued on BGE/PEPCO letterhead)






For Immediate Release                                 Contact:
                                                      Art Slusark - 410-234-7436
April 17, 1997
                                                      Nancy Moses - 202-872-2680


                 BGE/ PEPCO to File Request for Reconsideration
              of Maryland Public Service Commission's Merger Order


Baltimore Gas and Electric  Company and Potomac  Electric  Power Company  stated
today that while the Order of the  Maryland  Public  Service  Commission  issued
yesterday  recognized  the  benefits  of the  merger  of the two  companies,  it
contained  elements  that must be  revised  for the  merger to take  place.  The
companies  will file a request  for  reconsideration  of the Order so that these
problems can be remedied as soon as possible.


The two  companies  proposed  a  regulatory  plan  designed  to share the merger
benefits  equitably  between the  shareholders  and customers.  The Commission's
Order would put in place a plan that would eliminate any reasonable  opportunity
for shareholders to share in the benefits. In addition to ordering a significant
rate  decrease,  the order also  denies the two  companies  the  opportunity  to
recover the full costs for purchased power contracts  previously approved by the
Commission.  Taken together with the  imposition of a series of earnings  tests,
the shareholder is denied an opportunity to benefit from the merger.


"We hope to have the Public Service  Commission  revise its decision because the
Order would result in an  unacceptable  financial  impact on the new company and
the merger could not  proceed,"  stated  Christian H.  Poindexter  and Edward F.
Mitchell, Chairmen of the Boards and CEOs of the companies.

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