rate hike Archives | Citizens Utility Board

CUB statement on Ameren Illinois’ $48 million electric reconciliation rate hike

Jim Chilsen — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:03:36 +0000

The following is a statement from CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz: We’re glad state regulators reduced wasteful and inappropriate spending and shaved about $11 million off of Ameren Illinois’ electric rate-hike request. But the utility still received an increase of about $48 million, and we’re concerned about customers being unable to afford their utility bills among so many cost increases for other necessities such as food and healthcare. Under state regulatory law, Ameren is allowed to petition state regulators for extra money if it goes beyond what it has budgeted for capital projects. CUB supports ending this reconciliation benefit for utilities. If Ameren blows through its budget in a given year, customers shouldn’t have to pay the excess. Background: On Thursday, Dec. 18, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) granted Ameren Illinois a rate hike of about $48 million as part of an 8-month “reconciliation” case (Docket 25-0382). Last year, Ameren won a $308.6 million increase, spread out through 2027. However, a provision in state regulatory law allows Ameren to petition the ICC to recover extra expenses in yearly “reconciliation” cases, if they go over-budget on capital expenditures. In its reconciliation case, Ameren pushed for another $59.6 million. (CUB opposes utilities having this reconciliation benefit.) Over the course of the case, consumer advocates, including CUB and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, uncovered at least $14 million in wasteful spending in Ameren’s reconciliation proposal. A history of Ameren Illinois rate hikes in recent years: 2023: The ICC rejected Ameren’s first attempt at a four-year rate plan in 2023–in part because the utility didn’t do enough to show how the plan would be affordable or beneficial to customers. The utility got a smaller rate hike ($56 million) than it wanted. 2024: Ameren proposed a new plan last year, and the ICC approved a $308.6 million increase, spread out through 2027. 2025: The ICC approved an additional $48 million rate hike, as part of an 8-month reconciliation rate case. The rate hike will take effect before the end of the year.

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CUB statement on ComEd’s $243M reconciliation rate hike

Jim Chilsen — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 23:40:13 +0000

The following is a statement from CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz: We are pleased that state regulators knocked $25 million off of ComEd’s rate hike by weeding out wasteful and inappropriate spending–especially costs connected to fixing the utility’s error-prone billing system. ComEd customers shouldn’t have to pay for the utility’s incompetence. However, ComEd still received a $243 million rate hike, and we remain concerned about customers being able to afford their utility bills at a time of escalating costs for healthcare, groceries and other necessities. Under state regulatory law, ComEd is allowed to petition state regulators for extra money if it goes beyond what it has budgeted for capital projects. CUB supports ending this reconciliation benefit for utilities. If ComEd blows through its budget in a given year, customers shouldn’t have to pay the excess. Background: On Thursday, Dec. 18, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) granted ComEd a rate hike of about $243 million as part of the utility’s 8-month “reconciliation” case (Docket 25-0383). That’s about $25 million lower than the $268.5 million ComEd sought. ComEd has already won a $606 million, multi-year rate hike last year, but a provision in state regulatory law allows ComEd to petition the ICC to recover extra expenses in yearly “reconciliation” cases, if they go over-budget on capital expenditures. Roughly $200 million of ComEd’s proposed $268.5 million reconciliation increase was to make up for higher rates that were approved earlier, but had not yet been put in place. The rest of the proposed increase was to recover excess spending for ComEd going over-budget on capital projects. (CUB opposes utilities having this reconciliation benefit.) Among $25.4 in reductions that consumer advocates supported and the ICC approved: Most overrun costs related to fixing billing problems that have plagued ComEd customers since February of 2024. (Customers have complained about problems–billing delays, overcharges and other errors–since the utility launched its new billing system.) Millions of dollars to recover extra costs for infrastructure upgrades the ICC deemed unnecessary for a $73 million data center. For future reconciliation cases, the ICC also ordered ComEd to include cost-benefit analyses of grid plan projects to make it easier to evaluate the impact of ComEd’s plans for improving the grid. A history of ComEd’s recent rate hikes: 2023: The ICC rejected ComEd’s first attempt at a multi-year rate plan, in part because the utility didn’t do enough to show how the plan would be affordable or beneficial to customers. The utility received a $500 million rate hike, which was about $1 billion lower than it wanted. 2024: ComEd proposed a new plan last year, and the ICC approved a multi-year $606 million rate plan, spread out through 2027. 2025: ICC approved an additional $243 million rate hike, as part of an 8-month reconciliation rate case. The rate hike will take effect before the end of the year. Also, in January 2026, ComEd will launch a discount program for lower-income customers. The program will provide monthly discounts to qualifying customers designed to reduce energy bills to 3 to 6 percent of household income. Read CUB’s Q&A on the ComEd program.

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CUB: ComEd taking advantage of ongoing billing problems to push for million in higher delivery rates

Jim Chilsen — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 15:39:52 +0000

Nearly two years after Commonwealth Edison botched its launch of a new billing system, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) said it hopes to block Illinois’ biggest electric utility from making customers, and not shareholders, cover nearly $50 million in spending to fix the ongoing problems. (Read the full version of CUB’s news release from Wednesday, Dec. 10.) The utility watchdog made its argument as it challenges ComEd’s push to increase delivery rates by a total of $268.5 million by the end of the year. The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) last year approved a four-year rate plan for ComEd, but a provision in state regulatory law allows ComEd to petition (Docket 25-0383) the ICC for higher rates in yearly “reconciliation” cases. A portion of the increase is to make up for higher rates that were approved earlier but had not yet been put in place–however, tens of millions more are to recover excess spending for ComEd going over budget on capital expenditures. CUB filed testimony arguing that tucked away in ComEd’s reconciliation rate-hike plan is an attempt by the utility to improperly win millions of dollars a year in higher rates in connection to problems–billing delays, overcharges and other errors–ComEd customers have experienced since the utility launched its new system in February of 2024. According to the testimony, the improper charges include: $9.3 million a year in higher rates to recover $49 million in spending to fix the billing system, about which CUB is still hearing consumer complaints. “It’s ridiculous for ComEd to try to raise our rates in connection with billing problems the utility giant created itself,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. ”Customers shouldn’t pay higher rates for ComEd’s incompetence.” CUB argued the billing problems also came into play in two instances where ComEd is seeking performance bonus payment, under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), that the utility has not earned, including: A $5.8 million incentive payment for reducing disconnections in certain lower-income ZIP codes. Under an order approving these performance incentive metrics, the ICC adopted a requirement proposed by CUB that the utility cannot collect this bonus for simply delaying disconnections. CUB argued the disconnection reductions were not due to improved affordability or customer assistance but to the fact that ComEd’s error-prone billing system prevented it from disconnecting customers for nonpayment for most of 2024. A $3.5 million incentive payment ComEd argues it deserves for hitting a performance-metric target for customer service. CUB argued ComEd cannot claim this bonus because, amid the billing-system problems, the utility lost the data necessary to prove its claimed improvement. “Shame on ComEd,” Moskowitz said. “The utility shouldn’t benefit from its own failures.” ComEd has had a number of run-ins with the ICC since its corruption scandal erupted in 2020. In 2022, state regulators ordered ComEd to pay a $38 million fine in connection with the scandal. (ComEd was fined $200 million by federal authorities in 2020, after admitting to a bribery scheme to pass legislation that implemented a “formula rate” system and hundreds of millions of dollars in rate hikes over a decade.) In December of 2023, under a new, […]

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Update on Ameren’s gas rate-hike request

Elizabeth — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 18:26:25 +0000

Since we first reported on Ameren Illinois’ gas rate-hike request in January, the utility has adjusted its rate hike. Here’s a quick review: Ameren’s Rate-hike Request: The company has adjusted the amount from about $134.4 million to $131.1 million. It’s not unusual for a rate-hike total to be adjusted as an 11-month case proceeds before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). Impact on Customers: Ameren said originally its increase would raise average monthly residential customer bills by roughly 12 to 13 percent, or $8 to $10 per month. The numbers are estimated to be similar to that, despite the decrease in the overall total of the hike. What Consumer Advocates says: CUB has uncovered about $61 million in overcharges in Ameren’s proposed rate hike, which is about 46 percent of the total request. When you include recommendations from consumer advocates such as the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, Illinois PIRG and Environmental Defense Fund, the reductions total about $82 million. That means the testimony of consumer advocates shows that Ameren’s rate-hike request is nearly triple what the company can possibly justify. CUB focused on the following issues: Return on Equity. Ameren proposed an increase in its “return on equity” (ROE)—or profit rate for shareholders—from about 9.44 percent to 10.7 percent. That would give the company the highest ROE among major gas utilities in Illinois. CUB argues for a more reasonable 9.45 percent ROE, which would reduce the rate hike by $29.9 million. Capital Structure. CUB’s expert testimony also found problems with “capital structure”—basically how it finances infrastructure projects. Ameren wants to raise its “common equity ratio”—how much of the utility’s financing comes from issuing stocks—to 52 percent. CUB’s testimony recommends keeping it at its current level, 50 percent, which would reduce the rate hike by another $5.8 million. Rate-case Expense. Under Illinois law, utilities are allowed to recover expenses for outside lawyers and expert witnesses in rate cases. It is already offensive that Ameren customers have to pay for pro-utility lawyers and consultants who argue for increasing their bills, but adding insult to injury, CUB’s testimony revealed that Ameren’s accounting treatment of these costs would likely result in customers being double- or triple-charged for these fees—or worse—between now and Ameren’s next gas rate case. Correcting this practice would reduce the rate hike by another $1.8 million. (Note: In Springfield, CUB is working for a reform that would bar utilities from charging customers for this and other expenses that should instead be covered by shareholders.) The remainder of CUB’s financial adjustments related to the utility’s questionable forecasts for gas sales, inflation and cash working capital, which is the amount of money Ameren has available to fund day-to-day operations. Among the findings of other advocates: EDF and PIRG argued for the ICC to reduce planned transmission spending by up to $84 million, because the utility failed to adequately justify its spending. EDF, PIRG and the Illinois Attorney General also found that Ameren frequently replaces transmission pipes, which drives up its profits and customer bills, when other, less expensive compliance measures are viable. EDF and PIRG recommended that the ICC reject a proposal to subsidize […]

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This Week: CUB Urges Ameren Customers to Attend ICC Forums in Springfield, East St. Louis to Protest Utility’s Push for 4th Gas Rate Hike in Recent Years

Elizabeth — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 16:45:21 +0000

The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) is urging Ameren Illinois gas customers to attend Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) public forums in Springfield on Wednesday and East St. Louis on Thursday to protest their utility’s proposal for a fourth excessive gas rate hike in less than a decade. Consumer advocates argue that Ameren’s current $131.1 million rate-hike plan is nearly triple what the utility could possibly justify under the law. In recent years, customers across Ameren’s territory have complained to CUB about multiple rate hikes and escalating gas bills. Ameren Illinois has imposed three increases on customers since 2018, raising delivery rates by $202 million, or 50 percent. In that same time period (2018-2024), the utility’s parent company, Ameren, has increased profits by 45 percent for a total of $6.9 billion, and Ameren Illinois’ gas segment has seen its profits more than double. These forums, organized by the ICC, give customers a chance to voice their opposition to yet another Ameren rate hike: 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 27 CMS Regional Complex 4800 Wabash Avenue Springfield, IL 62711 Sign up to attend 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, August 28 New Life Community Church 1919 State Street East St. Louis, IL 62205 Sign up to attend NOTE: Consumer advocates will be available for interviews in advance and on-site. Consumer advocates such as the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, CUB and Illinois PIRG have filed testimony uncovering more than $80 million in overcharges in Ameren’s proposal, arguing that the utility’s proposal is nearly triple what it can justify. The ICC is expected to rule on Ameren’s rate-hike proposal by December.

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Op-Ed: Frustrated–even ‘heartbroken’–Nicor customers wonder when enough is enough

Jim Chilsen — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 22:26:03 +0000

By Sarah Moskowitz, Executive Director, Citizens Utility Board Nicor Gas usually delivers the heat, but at a recent Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) public forum in Joliet the utility was the one on the hot seat–over escalating bills. One Nicor customer walked to the microphone and directly addressed the utility bigwigs who were on stage to champion their proposal for the largest gas hike in Illinois history. The consumer said she was “heartbroken” over high gas bills that were burdening families. “We’re still suffering,” she said, calling on Nicor to lower bills so they are “truly affordable for all of us.” Given Nicor’s track record, it’s doubtful Illinois’ biggest gas utility got the message. Nicor has slapped its over 2 million customers with four rate hikes since 2017–raising delivery rates by 114 percent, or $747 million, and helping its parent, Southern Co., laugh all the way to the bank with $25.2 billion in profits. Now, Nicor wants a fifth: $316.5 million–a state record that would raise bills by 9.28 percent, or an average of $7.70 per month. If the utility gets its way, this increase would hit just in time for winter. Over the last decade, excessive, wasteful gas-pipeline spending has been business-as-usual for major Illinois utilities like Peoples Gas, Ameren Illinois and Nicor. Because they earn a profit on their capital investments, gas utilities are incentivized to overspend, and our bills have skyrocketed. Seeing their gravy train ending in decades to come, with consumers and regulators becoming more aware of the hazards of gas, these companies have resorted to serial rate hikes, as Illinois begins the long-term transition from fossil fuels. Nicor is an excellent example of this business model. Testimony filed by the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) Illinois PIRG, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office have shown that the utility’s fifth rate-hike request in less than a decade is so full of waste and excess that it’s about double what Nicor can possibly justify under state law. CUB alone found more than $111 million in overcharges, and when the Attorney General’s recommendations are taken into consideration, the reductions surge to nearly $153 million. And that total still doesn’t account for all of the reductions identified by other parties in the case. Some of the most egregious examples of overcharges include: Exorbitant profit rate. Nicor wants to exploit struggling customers to further enrich its shareholders. Its rate hike would unfairly raise bills by nearly $50 million to fund a bloated 10.35 percent profit rate – known as “Return on Equity” (ROE)—for private investors. Lavish Bonuses. Nicor wants another $18 million to reward executives with bonus compensation for reaching financial goals that help enrich shareholders but have absolutely no benefit to customers. Excessive Monthly Charge. Nicor wants to raise its monthly customer charge by about 20 percent to $23.41. But that just punishes customers who want to use energy efficiency to lower their bills. Wasteful program. Nicor’s TotalGreen pilot program should be eliminated. It invites customers to pay a premium on monthly bills to lower their carbon footprint via carbon offsets and “renewable natural gas” credits of questionable environmental benefit. After two years, only 131 of Nicor’s […]

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CUB News Release: 104% increase in Peoples Gas price in April exposes how utility misled customers on record rate hike

Jim Chilsen — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 15:59:50 +0000

A spike in April’s heating fuel price shows that Peoples Gas drastically understated the fallout customers would experience from a record-breaking rate hike the company imposed last year, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) warned Thursday. (Read CUB’s news release here, and here’s the Chicago Tribune’s coverage of the issue.) Peoples Gas instituted a $300 million rate hike in December 2023, claiming that the cost increase – the largest for a gas utility in Illinois history – would be neutralized by declining gas prices. As a result, the company said the massive rate hike was “not expected to increase the typical customer’s bill.” That forecast proved deceptive in the wake of disclosures this week that the utility’s gas supply price in April has more than doubled over what it was a year ago. Peoples Gas’ price of 52.79 cents per therm in April is about 30 percent higher than March’s price, and about 104 percent higher than April 2024. It’s the second-highest price Peoples Gas has charged during the month of April in the last decade. The gloomy news comes as Chicagoans are already suffering what consumer advocates have decried as a heating-affordability crisis, as the mounting cost of Peoples Gas service has left its customers reeling in debt. In February, nearly 150,000 Chicago households were more than 30-days delinquent on their Peoples Gas accounts, and customers were shackled to more than $74.5 million in cumulative debt to the company, according to data the utility has submitted to the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). “Peoples Gas misled its customers,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. “It was absurd for the utility to claim that its rate hike wouldn’t lead to higher bills. The supply price spike took effect on April Fools’ Day, but this is no joke for so many Chicago families who are struggling to afford their heating bills. We hope it’s a warm spring.” In a January 2023 news release announcing that it had filed for an increase in gas delivery charges, Peoples assured customers: “The filing is not expected to increase the typical customer’s bill.” The utility explained that gas supply prices were forecast to decline over the next two years, and that decline would balance out the increase they sought on the delivery side of bills. At the time, consumer advocates scoffed at Peoples Gas’ claim. CUB and others argued that while gas prices do drop temporarily at times, they also regularly spike in the volatile commodity market. It was only a matter of time before an increase in the supply price would combine with the delivery rate hike to increase overall bills, advocates said. In November of 2023, Peoples Gas won a $303 million rate hike and imposed it on customers the following month. That increase–the largest gas hike in Illinois history–helped capture record profits for the utility in 2024, marking seven out of eight years Peoples has set an earnings record. And now supply prices are moving up also. After a two-year stint of relative price stability, Peoples Gas’ supply rate has been steadily increasing, from 31.73 cents per therm in December 2024 to 52.79 cents per […]

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CUB statement on Ameren’s proposed $134 million gas rate hike

Jim Chilsen — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 13:36:17 +0000

Ameren Illinois has proposed a $134.4 million gas rate hike in 2025. The following is a statement from CUB. CUB will challenge Ameren’s Illinois’ proposed gas rate hike. Ameren has already won $111 million in gas rate hikes since 2021, helping to plunge too many consumers across Illinois into crisis while the utility’s parent company rolls in profits. And now the utility wants more. This punishing increase–which calls for hiking key delivery charges by more than 20 percent–would be a hardship for many Ameren customers. We urge the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) to reduce the utility’s wasteful spending and hold it accountable to its customers. The volatile gas supply price, along with Ameren’s parade of delivery rate hikes, drive home the point that gas is bad for our bottom lines–in addition to our health and the climate. It is essential that Illinois begin to plan for the long-term transition away from gas to heating alternatives that are cheaper, cleaner and safer. -CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz Background: Ameren Illinois filed for a $134.4 million gas rate hike on Jan. 8 (Docket #25-0084). This request, which is actually closer to $187 million when accounting for taxes, begins an 11-month rate case before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). The proposed hike, according to an initial filing, would increase the customer charge by about 24 percent, to $25.16 per month, and the per-therm distribution charge by about 28 percent to 56.207 cents per therm. The utility is proposing to increase its Return on Equity (ROE), or profit rate for shareholders, from 9.44 percent to 10.7 percent. This increase would impact delivery rates, which take up about a third to a half of gas bills. It’s what the utilities charge customers to cover the costs of delivering gas to homes— plus a profit. Ameren has received more than $111 million in gas rate hikes in less than five years: A $76 million hike in 2021 and a $35.2 million increase in 2023. Ameren’s parent company raked in $975 million in profits over the first nine months of 2024. Take action against Ameren’s rate-hike request: Sign our petition and file a public comment with regulators. There are plans and programs to assist customers who are having trouble paying their bills. We encourage consumers to contact their utility to get information about payment plans for which they may be eligible. Also, contact the Help Illinois Families call center, at 1-833-711-0374, to learn more about the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Ameren Illinois delivers gas to more than 800,000 customers in Illinois. The electric and gas utility covers more than 1,200 communities and 43,700 square miles in Illinois.

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BREAKING: ICC grants Aqua Illinois $11.6 million rate-hike

Elizabeth — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 21:45:15 +0000

The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) on Thursday cut Aqua Illinois’ rate-hike request by about 40 percent, granting the water utility an $11.6 million increase. CUB called the ICC’s Final Order a step toward reining in a utility that was the subject of intense criticism for high rates and poor water quality from customers who attended ICC public forums requested by AARP Illinois over the summer. But CUB said more needed to be done: The next step is to work for reforms in Springfield. “The ICC’s ruling is a step in the right direction–although we never like to see water rates go up for long-suffering Aqua customers,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. “We believe that a 9.6 percent profit rate for shareholders is still too high, but we are pleased that regulators rejected the company’s outrageous 10.8 percent proposal. And we are encouraged that the ICC shares the concerns of consumer advocates that Aqua’s rate design may unnecessarily shift costs onto residential ratepayers and ordered Aqua to explore more consumer-friendly designs. Now that this rate case is completed, we are turning our attention to Springfield, where there is a dire need to reform Illinois water policy that has been stacked against consumers for far too long and has escalated residential bills for years.” “AARP Illinois applauds the ICC’s decision to decrease Aqua Illinois’ proposed rate hike by 43 percent,” said Philippe Largent, State Director of AARP Illinois. “Water is just one of the utility bill increases that customers are struggling to pay, and we are encouraged to see that the ICC continues to approach these proposals with long-needed scrutiny, prioritizing people over company profits.” The ICC’s Final Order approved a 9.60 percent Return on Equity (ROE, or profit rate for shareholders), down from the 10.8 percent ROE that the company proposed when it filed for a $20.4 million rate hike in January of this year. ICC Chairman Doug Scott said the ICC approved Aqua’s proposed “rate design”–how the company spreads out costs over its residential, commercial and industrial customers–but added the Illinois Attorney General’s Office raised legitimate concerns that the utility was unnecessarily shifting costs on residential customers. The ICC ordered Aqua to develop and review alternatives to its current rate structure, and required Aqua to file an alternative rate design proposal by Jan. 1, 2027 or at its next rate case (whatever comes sooner) in conjunction with its preferred rate design. Aqua is required to also file a comparative analysis of the two rate designs. Also, under the Final Order, starting on July 1, 2025, eligible Aqua customers whose incomes are at or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Level will be able to receive a 70 percent discount on all base volumetric charges as a part of the newly approved low-income discount rate. In addition to challenging Aqua’s increase before the ICC, CUB also has advocated for reforms in Springfield, where in past years water companies have successfully pushed for legislation that increases costs for their customers. Under state law: Aqua and Illinois American Water–the state’s two biggest private water utilities–charge a “Qualifying Infrastructure Plant” fee on bills. Illinois American and Aqua […]

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News release: CUB urges ICC to cut ComEd rate hike

Jim Chilsen — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 22:57:26 +0000

As CUB prepared to argue that state regulators should cut Commonwealth Edison’s $678 million rate-hike request, the consumer group has identified hundreds of millions of dollars in excessive spending proposed by Illinois’ largest electric utility. (Read the full CUB news release from Tuesday, Nov. 19.) “We urge the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) to remove wasteful and improper spending by ComEd in its multi-year rate plan,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. “Illinois’ largest electric utility is required by law to prove that its grid plan is affordable—they don’t get a blank check.” Oral arguments in the ComEd rate case (Docket 24-0181) were scheduled for Tuesday morning, Nov. 19 (CUB General Counsel Eric DeBellis participated.) The ICC’s final order in the case is expected Dec. 5. It’s the latest in what has been a sometimes dramatic series of developments for ComEd in recent years before the ICC. In 2022, after an investigation sparked by the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), the ICC ordered ComEd to pay a $38 million fine in connection with its corruption scandal. (ComEd was fined $200 million by federal authorities in 2020, after admitting to a bribery scheme to pass legislation that implemented a “formula rate” system and hundreds of millions of dollars in rate hikes over a decade.) CEJA, the groundbreaking clean energy legislation passed in 2021, scrapped the old formula rates, and implemented a new system in which ComEd proposed a four-year plan for investing in the grid. The utility has to prove that the plan would be affordable and beneficial to customers. Last December, the ICC rejected the utility’s first proposed grid plan for, among other things, failing to prove affordability, and slashed its proposed four-year rate hike. Earlier this year, ComEd refiled its grid plan and proposed a less enormous, but still significant, series of rate hikes through 2027. Over the course of the case (Docket 24-0181), the proposed rate hike has been adjusted, and it now stands at about $678.1 million, according to a recent ComEd filing. State regulatory judges in October issued a Proposed Order recommending a total rate hike of about $648.6 million. This is on top of $506 million in higher rates the ICC approved last December, regarding issues regulators considered separately. Put together, ComEd’s annual rates would increase by about $1 billion. In expert testimony filed this past summer, CUB recommended the ICC reduce ComEd’s rate hike by at least $89 million, and reject hundreds of millions of dollars more in wasteful or improper spending ComEd planned to recover in decades to come. A summary of key parts of CUB’s testimony: CEJA requires proving cost-effectiveness for each project included in ComEd’s grid plan. But ComEd only applied cost-benefit analysis to projects representing roughly one-fourth of total costs, CUB argued. The watchdog proposed requiring ComEd to calculate benefits for every project it can and compare that to costs. Projects would only be approved if benefits exceed costs, or if they’re strictly legally or practically required. CEJA requires that delivery service rates be affordable. But ComEd misled about its huge rate-hike request by comparing delivery service rate increases to total electric bills, […]

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