FORM 8-K





                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION




                              Washington, DC 20549

                                 CURRENT REPORT



                Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities
                              Exchange Act of 1934




                        Date of Report: January 24, 1997



                              PECO ENERGY COMPANY
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



               PENNSYLVANIA1-         140123-           0970240
               (State or other       (SEC file        (IRS Employer
               jurisdiction of        number)        Identification
               incorporation)     




              230l Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19101
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)



               Registrant's telephone number, including area code:
                                 (215) 841-4000






Item 5. Other Events

On January 24, 1997,  Public  Service  Electric and Gas Company  (PSE&G) filed a
Current  Report  on  Form  8-K  concerning,  among  other  things,  the  restart
activities at Salem Nuclear Generating  Station (Salem),  operated by PSE&G. The
Form 8-K provides the following with respect to Salem:

"As previously  reported,  Salem Nuclear  Generating  Station Units 1 and 2 were
taken out of  service  by PSE&G in the  second  quarter  of 1995.  During  these
outages,  PSE&G has made  significant  changes and  improvements  related to the
people, processes and equipment at Salem to improve the long-term reliability of
the units.  During the course of these outages,  PSE&G has also been required to
address  certain generic issues  applicable to nuclear power plants,  which have
also  affected  the  length of the  outages.  Restart of the units is subject to
completion of the restart plans for the units to the  satisfaction  of PSE&G and
the NRC.

Salem Unit No. 2 is in the final state of preparation  for restart.  The reactor
has been refueled and reassembled and the reactor coolant pumps have been tested
and placed in service. Over 90% of the total work activities have been completed
and  approximately  75% of the plant  systems  have been  restored.  The unit is
currently  scheduled  to  enter  Mode  4 in  early  February  which  will  allow
additional testing to be performed in preparation for startup.

Recently,  a Generic Letter from the NRC (used to notify the nuclear industry of
issues  affecting  plants  generally)  identified  an issue that will impact the
Salem Unit 2 startup  schedule.  Generic  Letter  (96-06)  requested all nuclear
utilities,  including PSE&G, to review systems for potential  waterhammer events
(hydrodynamic  stress  caused by steam  formation  in a piping  system)  and the
impact that these events could have on the system's safety  function.  PSE&G has
determined  that in  order  to  address  the  concerns  of the  Generic  Letter,
modifications  are necessary to the  containment fan coil units of Salem Units 1
and 2, which provide  containment  air cooling.  As a result of  installation of
these modifications and the time required for NRC acceptance of PSE&G's proposed
resolution of the Generic  Letter  issues,  the start up of Salem Unit 2 will be
delayed, which results in an expected return to service in the second quarter of
1997.

Salem  Unit 1 is  expected  to return to service in the summer of 1997 [see note
below],  after  replacement  of the  unit's  four  steam  generators,  which was
required in order to correct a generic  problem with certain  pressurized  water
reactors.   Removal  of  the  old  steam   generators  has  been  completed  and
installation  of the new steam  generators  is underway.  Salem Unit 1 will also
require  modifications  similar to Salem  Unit 2 to  respond to the NRC  Generic
Letter,  but such  modifications  are not expected to delay the unit's return to
service.

As  mentioned,  restart of both Salem  units is subject to NRC  approval,  which
cannot be assured. On January 14 1997, Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware wrote to
the NRC to request  that the full  Commission  vote on the  decision  to restart
Salem,  rather  than  permit  the NRC  staff  to  authorize  the  restart  under
applicable NRC rules. The NRC has not yet responded to Senator Biden's request."

- -------
Note:  It is the Company's belief that the earliest that Salem Unit 1 will
return to service is late in the third quarter of 1997.








                                   SIGNATURES




    Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
    registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
                     undersigned hereunto duly authorized.






                                                             PECO ENERGY COMPANY


                                                              \s\ J. B. Mitchell
                                                        Vice President - Finance
                                                                and Treasurer






January 24, 1997