ComEd filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission its annual update of electricity supply charges, the primary component of the “Price to Compare,” which will take effect in June 2013.
The average residential electricity supply charge for customers who buy energy from ComEd will drop from about $.07/kilowatt-hour to about $.05/kilowatt-hour, a reduction of almost 30 percent, as a result of lower energy prices. Customers that have switched to alternative suppliers for their electricity supply have likely been realizing lower costs already, according to the utility.
As a result of Illinois’ policy to bring electricity choice to consumers, ComEd customers can use the Price to Compare to evaluate offers from alternative retail electricity suppliers.
About 75 percent of ComEd customers already have switched to an alternative supplier for their electricity supply. More than 40 alternative suppliers in ComEd’s service territory are certified to sell electricity supply to residential customers.
The Price to Compare is determined using expected electricity supply and transmission charges and makes up about two-thirds of the average residential customer bill. In May 2013, ComEd will file new transmission rates to take effect in June 2013. Transmission costs are expected to increase as a result of service-enhancing investments and are reflected in ComEd’s Price to Compare.
The other one-third of the bill is made up of delivery charges. Under the Smart Grid law, delivery charges are updated every year in January. In the next few weeks, ComEd will file its proposal for its new delivery charges to take effect Jan. 1, 2014. Under this proposal, delivery charges are expected to increase as a result of grid modernization and other service-enhancing investments, but the increase is largely offset by lower energy prices.
ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corp. (EXC) serves about 6.6 million customers. ComEd provides service to about 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population.
