Some ComEd customers seeing triple-digit bill increases as supply rate jump, heat wave converge

Chicago Tribune

22-07-2025

The first ComEd bills with a massive baked-in supply rate increase are hitting home for Chicago-area customers, and after a record heat wave in June, they may be in for some sticker shock.
The spike in the wholesale cost of electricity, which ComEd buys at an annual auction and then passes through to its customers, paired with increased energy usage, added $67.28 month-over-month to the average June 30 bill, the utility said.
Some ComEd customers saw a triple-digit increase in their total June bills, the utility said.
'It's a double whammy when you think about capacity price auctions and a very hot, unusually hot June,' Brad Perkins, ComEd's director of rates and revenue policy, told the Tribune.
ComEd had warned that the supply portion of the bill would go up about $10.60 per month beginning in June because of last year's electricity auction, which set a higher price for the utility. But the projected increase was a 12-month average, and most customers were hit with a much bigger hike as the summer air conditioning season kicked off with a bang.
Things could get even worse next year, based on another record rate increase at an annual capacity auction held Tuesday, which will set ComEd's price beginning in June 2026.
The supply charge generally represents about half the monthly bill and does not benefit ComEd, which makes its profit on the delivery charges. The average residential ComEd customer pays about $108 per month for the total bill across the full year, not including the projected $10.60 supply charge increase, the utility said.
But the impact of the increased supply rate varies based on actual usage, which is significantly higher during the hot summer months, when air conditioners work overtime to keep homes cool. The average June 30 bill was $146.08, driven primarily by increased supply charges, up $28.45 over the same month last year, ComEd said.
For ComEd customers across the Chicago area, the June and July bills have been an unwelcome surprise.
Olivia Odendahl, 26, who shares a Lakeview two-bedroom walkup apartment with a roommate, saw her July 18 ComEd bill more than double month-over-month to $120.83. Her supply charge increased by $36.39 for the monthly cycle dating back to mid-June.
'It was complete sticker shock,' Odendahl said. 'I feel like always in the summer, of course, it goes up just because you have your AC unit running, so I'm used to seeing an increase. But it's never quite been this high.'
Her total June/July bill was up $35.23 over the same period last year, driven by a $28.37 year-over-year supply charge increase. In addition to the higher supply charge rate, her energy usage was up 26% over the 2024 June/July bill.
Odendahl, a public relations professional who has lived and often worked remotely in the apartment just a few blocks from Wrigley Field for four years, said she is contemplating ways to cut down on her air conditioning and electricity usage, a challenging task this summer.
'It's hard because it's been so hot here,' Odendahl said. 'I don't want to have to turn off the AC all the time, but if my bill continues to be $120 every month … that's very not affordable.'
The ComEd bill breaks out the supply costs as a separate line item that shows the number of kilowatt-hours used multiplied by the electricity rate. The cost of electricity rose from 5 cents per kilowatt-hour to 8.3 cents from kilowatt-hour beginning in June, which paired with increased energy usage, nearly doubled the average residential bill in Chicago over the previous month, ComEd said.
The increased supply charge is slightly offset by a provision of the state's Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which requires ComEd to issue a credit when energy prices go above a certain level. The 1.7 cent per kilowatt-hour credit shows up as a Carbon-Free Energy Resource Adjustment under the taxes and fees section of the bill.
The credit didn't make much of a dent in the current ComEd bill for many customers, however, as the Chicago area experienced the sixth hottest June on record, according to the National Weather Service.
Sweltering under a heat dome that brought oppressive triple-digit temperatures and humidity to large swaths of the Midwest and East Coast, average daily highs in Chicago topped 84.1 degrees in June, 3.7 degrees above normal.
As such, Chicago-area ComEd customers used 836 kWh for the month, up 367 kWh over May and 90 kWh year-over-year, according to the utility, exacerbating the initial impact of the higher supply rate.
While hotter summers may be here to stay, the wholesale price of electricity will definitely increase next year.
PJM Interconnection, a Pennsylvania-based regional transmission organization, manages the electricity supply grid for 13 states, including ComEd's 4.2 million customers in northern Illinois. It holds an annual capacity auction for expected reserve electricity needed during peak demand, and last year those supply prices skyrocketed.
Results for the annual PJM capacity auction Tuesday saw prices jump up again, rising from $269.92 per Megawatt-day last year to a record $329.17 per Megawatt-day, a 22% increase which will set higher supply prices for ComEd and its customers beginning in June 2026.
The annual auction price Tuesday could have been even higher, but was limited by a newly implemented price cap agreed to by PJM following a complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filed by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, with support from Gov. JB Pritzker.
'While we are relieved that the negotiated price cap prevented capacity costs from soaring even higher, this price spike is unacceptable,' Jim Chilsen, a spokesperson for nonprofit watchdog group Citizens Utility Board, said in a statement. 'CUB is deeply concerned that ComEd customers will continue to bear painfully high costs for another year, largely because of policy shortcomings from PJM.'
ComEd issued a statement Tuesday in the wake of the capacity auction results.
'ComEd remains committed to keeping energy affordable today and planning for a more reliable future; and we recognize that rising electricity costs are challenging for families across northern Illinois,' the utility said. 'The latest PJM auction reflects broader market challenges, like increasing demand and fewer available generation resources.'
Beyond the higher supply rate and oppressive heat wave, ComEd customers are potentially paying more than they should because of what may be the most inefficient electrical system in the nation, according to Whisker Labs, a Maryland-based company which monitors the safety and reliability of the grid.
Whisker Labs has distributed its Ting plug-in sensor to more than 1 million homes in the U.S. to detect electrical faults in the home and on the grid, primarily as a fire prevention tool. In the process, the company has accumulated data on electric service nationwide, ranking regions based on the distortion in power delivered to homes, which reduces energy efficiency and damages appliances.
The ComEd territory essentially has the least efficient electrical grid in the country, with 40% of homes experiencing power distortion at 8% or greater, according to Whisker Labs. That means roughly 1.7 million ComEd customers are paying upward of $500 per year in energy waste, according to Bob Marshall, CEO and co-founder of Whisker Labs.
'ComEd in particular shows that they by far have the highest percentage of homes that have harmonics that are outside of industry acceptable limits,' Marshall told the Tribune. 'It causes a reduction in the energy efficiency of everything that uses electricity in the home.'
Marshall said there are more than 50,000 homes in the ComEd territory using the Ting sensor, some of which were provided by insurance companies to minimize the risk of electrical fires. The devices monitor power surges, distortion and outages.
In turn, the total harmonic distortion levels provide a real time health report on the quality of the electric utility's grid infrastructure, which delivers the power to customers.
Chicago-area hotspots for elevated power distortion include Northbrook, Lincolnwood, Schaumburg, Long Grove, Kildeer, Norwood Park, South Holland and Country Club Hills, according to a Ting map supplied by the company.
'It is an accurate measurement, and with 100% certainty, we can say that these problems are originating on the grid,' Marshall said.
ComEd questioned the methodology behind the Whisker Labs data, and said it has one of the most reliable electric grids in the nation. At the same time, the utility acknowledged that the increased cost of the electricity is impacting many of its Chicago-area customers this summer, with low-income customers being hit the hardest.
Anticipating this summer's one-two punch of the supply rate increase and higher energy demand, ComEd launched a $10 million relief fund July 7 to help struggling customers catch up with rising bills and keep the electricity flowing this summer. But nearly 60,000 customers applied for the one-time grants in the first week, and the fund is fast running out, the utility said.
'The $10 million fund was a step in the right direction, but it's painfully short of what is needed to answer this price spike,' Citizens Utility Board spokesperson Chilsen said. 'And the fact that this fund depleted so quickly is a sign of the urgency of fixing the problems behind the spike: PJM's policy shortcomings.'
ComEd plans to launch a low-income discount program for qualifying customers in January, and envisioned the $10 million relief fund as providing 'a bridge' to next year, Perkins said.
Relief can't come too soon for Liliana Olayo, 51, who lives in a 65-year-old house in Aurora with her daughter, grandson and mother.
On a budget billing plan, Olayo pays ComEd about $80 per month year-round, but she had already fallen behind by about $380 when the June 17 bill landed. The supply charges nearly doubled from May, jumping from $39.27 to $75.36 — a more than $36 monthly increase.
The total current charges were up nearly $50 to $143.13, meaning Olayo will likely fall deeper in the red during the sizzling summer of '25, with another blast of heat and humidity descending on Chicago this week.
'It's frightening,' she said. 'I hate to see the bills like that and I'm hoping for a miracle that the charges will be less. But the electricity is always higher in the summer and it's a necessity.'
While Olayo qualifies for low-income utility assistance, she likely has missed the window to apply for ComEd's $10 million customer relief fund, and will need to wait until January for cooler weather and the utility's discount program to arrive.
In the meantime, she and her family are looking to navigate the sharply rising electricity costs and temperatures this summer, turning off lights and appliances when not in use and visiting the library or mall during the day to cool off.
'So we give a break to our air conditioning and the electricity,' she said. 'But it's very hard.'