ComEd customers seeing bills double amid rising electric cost
Temperatures are soaring, and so are the bills for ComEd customers, who are feeling the impact of the sticker shock.
Experts, however, said the anger directed toward the electric company is being misplaced.
Triple-digit jumps in some electric bills have customers seeing red. The main culprit isn't ComEd. The real driver is a higher supply charge, which the grid operator sets, not the utility, and unfortunately, it will get worse.
"Mine doubled! That's kind of garbage," customer Drew Marinelli said.
His ComEd bill for his Albany Park apartment went from around $80 per month to $167 last month.
"It is a little frustrating to see that it jumped up that aggressively for what felt like no reason," he said.
Marinelli wasn't the only customer to gasp.
"The increase went into effect on June 1 and is expected to be about 10 to 15 percent per household," Mohammad Abdullah said via TikTok.
The issue is baked into the electricity supply charge, and it's not the company's fault.
"Big power generators, the companies that own the power plants. They are laughing all the way to the bank this summer as we pay these high bills," Citizens Utility Board Communications Director Jim Chilsen said.
Chilsen said the cost of electricity on the wholesale market went up thanks to , the electric grid operator. He said they have been slow to adopt low-cost clean energy resources and battery projects to help bring down prices.
ComEd said the spike, combined with an unseasonably warm June, raised the average bill by more than $67.
"Rising energy prices have a real impact on the families and customers that we serve," ComEd's director of revenue policy, Brad Perkins, said.
Perkins said they knew it was coming and launched a $10 million relief fund earlier this month to help struggling customers pay these rising bills.
"Thus far, we've seen a lot of interest in this. Thousands of customers have applied for relief on this, and customers will start experiencing the credits associated with this relief fund in a few weeks," he said.
CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said in a statement, in part:
"While we are relieved that the negotiated price cap prevented capacity costs from soaring even higher, this record price spike is unacceptable. CUB is deeply concerned that ComEd customers will continue to bear painfully high costs for another year, largely because of policy shortcomings from PJM. The power grid operator's policy decisions too often favor outdated, expensive power plants and needlessly block low-cost clean energy resources and battery projects from connecting to the grid and bringing down prices. This extended price spike was preventable. It ramps up the urgency of implementing long-term reforms at PJM and comprehensive energy legislation in Illinois, such as the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, to protect customers from price spikes that serve only to give power generators windfall profits."
PJM also responded to the increased prices:
"The bottom line about electricity prices is that we are facing a situation of demand outpacing supply, causing prices to rise. Demand for electricity is growing, not only in PJM, but across the United States and across the globe. In the United States, demand increases are driven by data centers that power the digital economy and the development of artificial intelligence, but also by the electrification of vehicles and building heating systems."
According to AARP, the rising costs can also lead to some older adults making difficult decisions.
"With dangerous heat gripping Illinois, older adults on fixed incomes are facing impossible choices – whether to stay cool or pay for essentials like food, medicine, and health care," State Director of AARP Illinois Philippe Largent said. "Skyrocketing electricity rates as a result of the recent PJM capacity auction only make this crisis worse, putting lives at risk and highlighting the urgent need for relief and accountability. This is why AARP Illinois continues to fight hard against all utility increases that affect the quality of life of older adults across the state."
ComEd also offers and ways customers can on their website.
