ComEd customers to see short-term $1.70 monthly relief
BY SANDRA GUY sguy@suntimes.com June 8, 2012 6:43PM
Updated: June 14, 2012 10:52PM
ComEd customers will see their bills drop by 2 percent, or an average $1.70 per month, starting in June as a result of an Illinois Commerce Commission decision last week.
The ICC cut $168.6 million off of ComEd’s revenues, ruling in part that ComEd’s pension contributions are an expense and not an asset on which the utility can earn a rate of return.
ComEd itself had proposed a decrease of $40 million to $50 million, based on a rate-setting formula it uses that considers the pension an asset.
The ICC reviewed ComEd’s request and decided to cut customers’ rates by four times the initial request and even more than a state regulatory judge’s recommended $146 million decrease. A ComEd spokesman said late Monday the utility plans to seek a re-hearing before the ICC, and, if necessary, appeal the ICC’s ruling to the Illinois Appellate Court.
After Jan. 1, rates will start to gradually go up. ComEd has estimated its $2.6 billion, 10-year grid update will cost customers an extra $3 a month on average.
