Dec. 10--The Illinois Commerce Commission has approved a nearly $67 million rate decrease for ComEd next year, the first such reduction in three years.
The lowered delivery rate announced Wednesday reflects efficiencies generated from the ongoing rollout of ComEd's smart grid. It's expected to translate to a savings of about $1 per month on the average residential bill beginning in January, the company said.
The delivery of electricity represents about 40 percent of a customer bill, with cost of supply -- the actual energy itself -- accounting for the balance.
"The investments in the smart grid program are producing a stronger, more reliable system with fewer outages," ComEd president and CEO Anne Pramaggiore said in a statement. "Those results mean less operational costs and greater savings for our customers."
ComEd had proposed a smaller decrease of about $50 million to the ICC in April. The annual rate-setting process is part of the 2011 Smart Grid law, a 10-year program to modernize ComEd's infrastructure. As part of their annual rate requests, utilities must submit their previous year's actual expenses and the current year's projected capital investments.
The Citizens Utility Board, a watchdog group, called the rate reduction a promising development.
"We hope this decrease is a sign that ComEd has taken a step forward in building a more efficient and reliable power grid that gives consumers the opportunity to save money," said Citizens Utility Board Executive Director David Kolata in a statement. "We are paying for these power grid upgrades, so we deserve the benefits."
ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corp. and provides electrical service to about 3.8 million customers in northern Illinois.
The smart grid is a $2.6 billion modernization program designed to upgrade the electrical delivery system. Part of the program includes the installation of digital smart meters to better manage energy consumption and respond more quickly to outages.
ComEd has put in about 2 million smart meters to date. It expects to complete installation to all customers by 2018.
The broader smart grid investments, which include digital smart switches that automatically route power around potential problem areas, have avoided more than 5.8 million customer interruptions since 2012, saving an estimated $175 million, the company said.
rchannick@tribpub.com
