Pepco Holdings Executive Gets $4.3M Pay Package

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dennis Wraase, the retiring top executive of utility and power generator of Pepco Holdings Inc., saw his total compensation package decline 4 percent to $4.3 million in 2008, according to an Associated Press calculation of figures disclosed in a regulatory filing.

But about a third of the compensation package came in the form of stock options that currently have little value absent a major jump in the company's stock price.

Wraase, who stepped down as CEO on March 1 and will retire as chairman at the company's annual meeting on May 15, received a salary of $1.1 million and performance-based bonuses of $968,400 for 2008, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. His salary for 2007 was $1 million and his bonus totaled $1.1 million.

About one third of the compensation came from stock options worth $1.2 million when they were awarded in January 2008 when Pepco Holdings stock was trading at $26.

Like many other utilities and power generators in the past year, the stock of Pepco Holding has been hammered by the recession and the declining stock market, losing more than half its value in the past year. Its shares fell 88 cents, or 6.8 percent, to $12.14 in trading Monday afternoon.