Exelon third-quarter earnings fall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Power company Exelon Corp which has launched an unsolicited bid for NRG Energy Inc, posted lower third-quarter earnings on Friday, hurt by increased costs and weather-related problems.

The company also said it increased its quarterly dividend by 5 percent.

Net income fell to $700 million, or $1.06 a share, from $780 million, or $1.15 a share, a year ago.

Excluding items, quarterly earnings decreased to $706 million, or $1.07 a share, from $823 million, or $1.21 a share.

EXELON (EXC.NY), the largest nuclear power plant operator in the nation and the owner of the Commonwealth Edison and PECO utilities, launched its bid for NRG Energy earlier this week in a move to create the largest U.S. power producer.

NRG Energy has not responded to Exelon's bid, which was valued at about $5.7 billion, or $24.19 per NRG Energy share, as of Thursday's close.

The fourth-quarter dividend was raised to 52.5 cents a share and is payable on December 10.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha and Matt Daily; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)