- Outline grid work needed to maintain
record-breaking reliability
- Support expansion of renewables and beneficial
electrification
- Prioritize under-resourced communities, spur
local job creation and investment
ComEd today filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC)
multi-year grid and rate plans (“the plans”) that will strengthen
the region’s infrastructure and economy and increase access to the
benefits of clean energy and decarbonization under the state’s
Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). The plans also ensure that
the electric grid remains reliable and resilient for the 9 million
people ComEd serves in northern Illinois as severe weather events
become more common due to climate change.
“ComEd has a critical role in ensuring the transition to cleaner
energy is reliable and equitable for all,” said ComEd CEO
Gil Quiniones. “These proposed investments are necessary to
deliver the resilient 24/7 power our customers depend on, prepare
the grid for fleets of electric vehicles and electrification,
integrate more clean energy and battery storage, and equitably
advance a decarbonized energy future. In addition to supporting the
goals of CEJA, the plans will create good-paying local jobs and
drive investment to help ensure all communities – especially those
that are under-resourced – benefit from the clean energy
transition.”
The grid plan reflects input provided in 15 ICC-led workshops,
which involved hundreds of participants and dozens of presentations
on energy issues and community and stakeholder priorities.
Following an 11-month open process in which the ICC, other public
agencies, and consumer, environmental and other groups will review
the plan and costs, the ICC will issue a decision in December 2023.
State regulators must find all costs prudent and reasonable before
including them in rates.
Multi-Year Plan Advantages
ComEd’s rate plan sets base rates and revenue requirements for
four years, which provides greater predictability for customers
while funding investments that are required to deliver at least 40
percent of benefits to equity investment-eligible communities. The
plans align with ComEd 2030, the company’s recently announced
vision for a carbon-free energy future that will benefit all
communities and meet customers’ changing needs for the rest of this
decade and beyond.
Each investment that ComEd plans helps ensure the safety,
resiliency and security of the grid while meeting the demands of
climate change, decarbonization and electrification, evolving
customer needs, and increasing cyber and physical security threats
– all with a focus on equity and affordability. Key areas of
investment include:
- Improving service reliability and storm response:
Upgrade and replace poor-performing or obsolete cable, wood poles
and other equipment; trim or remove trees near power lines; and
deploy advanced analytics that help prevent power outages and
improve restoration of service to customers.
- Supporting the clean energy transition: Enable safe and
effective electrification of vehicles, homes and industry through
necessary upgrades to power lines and substations to meet increased
electric demand and invest in technology needed to integrate large
of amounts of clean energy securely, safely and efficiently.
- Improving coordination with communities: Enhance
community resilience to storms and resource management for storm
restoration.
- Ensuring all communities can access and benefit from clean
energy: Expand programs to prepare local residents for
good-paying clean energy jobs and use the advanced communication
network to close the digital divide in under-resourced
communities.
Bills Among Lowest in Nation; Record-Breaking
Reliability
ComEd’s average total monthly customer bill of $93 is among the
lowest in the nation today, and its residential customers’ bills
are approximately 20 percent lower than the average in the 10
largest U.S. metropolitan areas. ComEd’s plans would result in an
increase of about $4.25 in the average monthly residential bill
annually from 2024 through 2027, for a total impact of $17 by 2027.
At ComEd’s requested rate for 2027, the average residential bill
would be less than even the average 2021 residential utility bill
in more than half of U.S. states. The plans include an increase in
annual delivery costs of $1.47 billion spread out over four years.
The company is seeking ICC approval to defer 35 percent of the 2024
increase until 2026 to smooth the transition for ComEd
customers.
Maintaining a highly reliable grid with fewer and shorter power
outages will continue to create savings for customers. ComEd’s
reliability is among the best of all large U.S. electric companies
and was better in 2022 than in any prior year on record. Since
ComEd started smart grid improvements in 2012, it has improved
overall reliability by more than 80 percent, helping customers
avoid more than 19 million outages and save more than $3.3 billion
in outage-related costs. As extreme weather events, electrification
and other ComEd customer needs increase, the need to invest in the
reliability of the system grows.
“We are encouraged that ComEd's plans will build greater
resilience, improve the capacity to transition to clean energy and
adapt to climate change impacts. We are pleased to support ComEd's
multi-year grid plan," Neil C. James, Executive Director of
Metropolitan Mayors Caucus.
Expansion of Renewables and Beneficial
Electrification
ComEd estimates that solar power on its grid, including rooftop
and community solar systems, will grow more than five times from
almost 500 megawatts (MWs) today to 2,700 MWs by 2030. In 2022,
ComEd received a record-setting 19,292 applications from
residential, commercial and industrial customers to connect solar
panels and other distributed energy resources to ComEd’s grid, a 74
percent increase from the prior year. Sustaining this growth and
preparing to serve more electric vehicles, buildings and industries
while maintaining grid safety and reliability for ComEd customers
will require physical and digital infrastructure upgrades.
“EV adoption has grown significantly throughout the country, and
specifically in Illinois, in recent years, and we expect this trend
to accelerate in the near term,” said Matthew Deal, manager of
utility policy at ChargePoint, the largest online network of
independently owned EV charging stations. “ComEd’s proposed Grid
Plan establishes a strong foundation to support the State’s goal
for one million EVs on Illinois roads by 2030.”
Multi-Year Plans Support Jobs, Drive Economic
Development
ComEd’s plan will support job creation as renewable energy
rapidly expands and various sectors decarbonize. National economic
and workforce applied research firm BW Research recently released a
first-of-its-kind study that found that the state’s larger
transition to clean energy could create a net increase of more than
41,000 jobs by 2030 and 150,000 jobs by 2050 in Illinois.
“Illinois leads the nation in moving to a clean energy economy
built by union labor,” said Joe Duffy, executive director of
labor coalition Climate Jobs Illinois. “ComEd's Grid Plan
represents an important first step towards the clean jobs
future.”
In addition, the grid plan advances ComEd’s leading role in
supporting economic growth across northern Illinois. Companies
continue to invest in the region thanks to the unparalleled access
to clean, cost-effective and highly reliable power. As one key
example, in the last two years, ComEd has brought 28 commercial
projects online, including 12 data centers, representing 6,800 jobs
and more than $3 billion in local investment.
“As businesses continue to increase their electrification needs,
an affordable, reliable, and clean grid has never been more
critical,” said Jack Lavin, President and CEO of the Chicagoland
Chamber of Commerce. “ComEd’s continued investments in a more
sustainable system will keep Illinois competitive by providing a
modernized grid that can attract businesses to our state and
contribute to their performance.”
Performance Metrics Drive Accountability in Achieving Targets
and Equity
ComEd’s plan is subject to ICC-approved performance metrics that
set targets for grid performance and equity. They measure:
continued improvement in reliability of the overall grid and
greater resilience in environmental justice communities; reduction
of peak electric demand on the grid; reduction of residential
customer disconnections; reduction of the time it takes to connect
distributed energy resources; and enhancement of service through
the resolution of customer issues.
Metrics include ComEd’s spend with diverse suppliers and its
impact on the economy. In 2021, ComEd spent $893 million – 42
percent of its total spend – with minority-owned, women-owned, and
veteran-owned companies, up from $253 million in 2012. ComEd works
with more than 660 diversity-certified suppliers, including The
Will Group, a contract manufacturing company.
“Over the past 10 years, we have partnered with ComEd on various
projects that have transformed communities like the K-Town Business
Center in North Lawndale,” said Joshua Davis, president of The
Will Group. “ComEd's proposed grid plan is a community
investment that aligns with our partnership's foundational shared
quality of being transformative in the communities in which we
operate, and we fully support it.”
To continue to support customers who are working to make ends
meet, ComEd recently added three new customer-assistance programs
to its existing offerings to help income-eligible families and
individuals access assistance options and manage their electric
bills.
ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ:
EXC), a Fortune 200 energy company with approximately 10 million
electricity and natural gas customers – the largest number of
customers in the U.S. ComEd powers the lives of more than 4 million
customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s
population. For more information visit ComEd.com and connect with
the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005845/en/
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