{"id":44315,"date":"2025-12-18T17:40:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/?p=44315"},"modified":"2025-12-18T18:03:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T00:03:22","slug":"cub-statement-on-comeds-243m-reconciliation-rate-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/blog\/2025\/12\/18\/cub-statement-on-comeds-243m-reconciliation-rate-hike\/","title":{"rendered":"CUB statement on ComEd&#8217;s $243M reconciliation rate hike"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251218_ComEdReconciliationCase_Final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>following is a statement<\/strong><\/a> from <strong>CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><em>We are pleased that state regulators knocked $25 million off of ComEd\u2019s rate hike by weeding out wasteful and inappropriate spending\u2013especially costs connected to fixing the utility\u2019s error-prone billing system. ComEd customers shouldn\u2019t have to pay for the utility\u2019s incompetence.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>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\u2019t have to pay the excess.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Background: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On Thursday, Dec. 18, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) granted ComEd a rate hike of about $243 million as part of the utility\u2019s 8-month \u201creconciliation\u201d case (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.icc.illinois.gov\/docket\/P2025-0383\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Docket 25-0383<\/a><\/strong>). That\u2019s about $25 million lower than the $268.5 million ComEd sought.<\/li>\n<li>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 \u201creconciliation\u201d cases, if they go over-budget on capital expenditures. Roughly $200 million of ComEd\u2019s 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.)<\/li>\n<li>Among $25.4 in reductions that consumer advocates supported and the ICC approved:\n<ul>\n<li>Most overrun costs related to fixing billing problems that have plagued ComEd customers since February of 2024. (Customers have complained about problems\u2013billing delays, overcharges and other errors\u2013since the utility launched its new billing system.)<\/li>\n<li>Millions of dollars to recover extra costs for infrastructure upgrades the ICC deemed unnecessary for a $73 million data center.<\/li>\n<li>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\u2019s plans for improving the grid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A history of ComEd\u2019s recent rate hikes:\n<ul>\n<li>2023: The ICC rejected ComEd\u2019s first attempt at a multi-year rate plan, in part because the utility didn\u2019t 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.<\/li>\n<li>2024: ComEd proposed a new plan last year, and the ICC approved a multi-year $606 million rate plan, spread out through 2027.<\/li>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>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. <strong><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/blog\/2025\/12\/17\/cub-qa-the-low-income-discount-lid-program-for-comed-customers\/\">Read CUB\u2019s Q&amp;A on the ComEd program<\/a>.<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following is a statement from CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz: We are pleased that state regulators knocked $25 million off of ComEd\u2019s rate hike by weeding out wasteful and inappropriate spending\u2013especially costs connected to fixing the utility\u2019s error-prone billing system. ComEd customers shouldn\u2019t have to pay for the utility\u2019s incompetence.\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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\u2019t 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\u2019s 8-month \u201creconciliation\u201d case (Docket 25-0383). That\u2019s 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 \u201creconciliation\u201d cases, if they go over-budget on capital expenditures. Roughly $200 million of ComEd\u2019s 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\u2013billing delays, overcharges and other errors\u2013since 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\u2019s plans for improving the grid. A history of ComEd\u2019s recent rate hikes: 2023: The ICC rejected ComEd\u2019s first attempt at a multi-year rate plan, in part because the utility didn\u2019t 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\u2019s Q&amp;A on the ComEd program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[299,69],"tags":[65,389,139,1848],"class_list":["post-44315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comed","category-updates","tag-electric","tag-electric-bills-2","tag-rate-hike","tag-reconciliation"],"cp_meta_data":{"_facebook_share_type":["default"],"_twitter_share_type":["default"],"_linkedin_share_type":["default"],"_pinterest_share_type":["default"],"_instagram_share_type":["default"],"_medium_share_type":["default"],"_threads_share_type":["default"],"_google_business_share_type":["default"],"_wpsp_custom_templates":["a:7:{s:8:\"facebook\";a:3:{s:8:\"template\";s:0:\"\";s:8:\"profiles\";a:0:{}s:9:\"is_global\";b:0;}s:7:\"twitter\";a:3:{s:8:\"template\";s:0:\"\";s:8:\"profiles\";a:0:{}s:9:\"is_global\";b:0;}s:8:\"linkedin\";a:3:{s:8:\"template\";s:0:\"\";s:8:\"profiles\";a:0:{}s:9:\"is_global\";b:0;}s:9:\"pinterest\";a:3:{s:8:\"template\";s:0:\"\";s:8:\"profiles\";a:0:{}s:9:\"is_global\";b:0;}s:9:\"instagram\";a:3:{s:8:\"template\";s:0:\"\";s:8:\"profiles\";a:0:{}s:9:\"is_global\";b:0;}s:6:\"medium\";a:3:{s:8:\"template\";s:0:\"\";s:8:\"profiles\";a:0:{}s:9:\"is_global\";b:0;}s:7:\"threads\";a:3:{s:8:\"template\";s:0:\"\";s:8:\"profiles\";a:0:{}s:9:\"is_global\";b:0;}}"],"classic-editor-remember":["classic-editor"],"_edit_lock":["1766102511:5"],"_edit_last":["5"],"_wp_page_template":["default"],"borntogive_page_header_show_hide":["2"],"borntogive_pages_title_show":["1"],"borntogive_pages_Choose_slider_display":["2"],"borntogive_pages_select_revolution_from_list":["3"],"borntogive_pages_slider_pagination":["yes"],"borntogive_pages_slider_auto_slide":["yes"],"borntogive_pages_slider_direction_arrows":["yes"],"borntogive_pages_slider_effects":["fade"],"borntogive_pages_body_bg_wide":["0"],"borntogive_pages_body_bg_repeat":["repeat"],"borntogive_pages_content_bg_wide":["0"],"borntogive_pages_content_bg_repeat":["repeat"],"borntogive_pages_social_show":["1"],"borntogive_strict_no_sidebar":["0"],"borntogive_sidebar_columns_layout":["3"],"borntogive_gallery_slider_pagination":["yes"],"borntogive_gallery_slider_auto_slide":["yes"],"borntogive_gallery_slider_direction_arrows":["yes"],"borntogive_gallery_slider_effects":["fade"],"_wpb_vc_js_status":["false"],"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":[""],"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":["off"],"_wpsp_is_facebook_share":["off"],"_wpsp_is_twitter_share":["off"],"_wpsp_is_linkedin_share":["off"],"_wpsp_is_pinterest_share":["off"],"_selected_social_profile":["a:0:{}"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["69"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["60"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["3"],"_wpb_post_custom_layout":["default"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44317,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44315\/revisions\/44317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}