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The Maryland Public Service Commission's approval Friday of a $4.5 billion sale of half of Constellation Energy Group's nuclear energy business to Electricite de France includes a one-time rebate to customers of Baltimore Gas & Electric that had been sought by Gov. Martin O'Malley.

The $110.5-million rate relief amounts to a $100 credit to customers — half the amount sought by O'Malley (D). BGE has 12,500 electric customers in Montgomery County and 71,300 in Prince George's County.

The approval also is conditioned on Constellation taking steps to protect BGE from any financial fallout if Constellation, its parent company, were to declare bankruptcy or see its credit rating crumble.

In a statement issued Friday afternoon, O'Malley called the order "fair and reasonable."

"By ordering certain conditions as part of the approval, the PSC clearly addressed the core issue the State has pursued in this matter from the start — to protect the 1.1 million BGE ratepayers by upholding a law that requires this deal to provide ‘benefits and no harm' to ratepayers," he said.

He commended the PSC for issuing an order four days after final briefs were submitted "to accommodate the two companies' deadline to conclude the deal."

"Although this has been a contentious proceeding at times, the process and the law worked — and ratepayers and BGE are better off because of it," O'Malley said, adding that he looked forward to working with Constellation and EDF to construct a new Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant — "a new clean energy-generating asset that we hope will create thousands of jobs in our State and help to secure Maryland's energy future."

The O'Malley administration outlined its conditions in a filing to the PSC on Monday that supported the sale with conditions that O'Malley had spent months trying to win from Constellation without success.

Constellation and EDF released a joint statement Friday saying that they are reviewing the order.

Constellation has argued that the EDF deal was necessary for the company to be able to build a third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs. That plant will boost the company's energy generating capacity and bring thousands of jobs to Southern Maryland, company officials have said.

The PSC's 54-page order said that "the proposed new nuclear generation station at Calvert Cliffs is, in our view, too contingent" to provide benefits to customers as required by state law.

"The law requires something more, and the Transaction as proposed does not deliver it," the order said.

The order calls for a $250 million investment in cash into BGE by June 30 and prohibits Constellation from receiving dividend payments from BGE should BGE's equity fall below 48 percent or should BGE's credit rating fall below investment grade. It also delays the utility's request for rate increases.

The O'Malley administration has accused Constellation of using BGE and its customers as a "cash cow" for the parent company.

Johanna Neumann, state director of the public interest group Maryland PIRG, expressed disappointment that the PSC didn't reject the deal between Constellation Energy and EDF outright, but said that "conditions placed on the deal may help safeguard BGE ratepayers from risks associated with the transaction if it moves forward."