With summer heat and electricity supply charges rising, ComEd announced some financial assistance for Chicago-area small businesses Thursday with a new $2.5 million customer relief fund.
Backed by ComEd’s parent company, Exelon, the relief fund will provide a one-time matching grant of up to $500 for eligible small- and medium-size business customers that have fallen behind on their bills.
The window for grant applications opens June 15. If last summer’s ComEd customer relief fund is any guide, that window may close fairly quickly.
“The Customer Relief Fund is designed to deliver immediate billing relief to thousands of ComEd’s small-business customers, ensuring they’re able to continue providing jobs to local residents, while contributing to the cultural vibrancy of our region,” Gil Quiniones, president and CEO of ComEd, said in a news release.
All of ComEd’s business and residential customers will likely face higher supply charges on their bills this summer, as the cost of electricity continues to rise.
ComEd customers have seen electricity supply charges skyrocket in recent years, in large part due to increased demand from data centers. Last summer, some reported triple-digit increases in their electricity bills due to the supply rate costs and high demand during a heat wave.
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. Prices jumped 22% at PJM’s annual capacity auction last summer, meaning another increase in supply prices for ComEd customers this year.
ComEd expects the average residential customer to see supply charges increase by $2 to $3 per month beginning with the June bill as a result of last summer’s capacity auction. The supply charge generally represents about half the monthly bill and does not benefit ComEd, which makes its profit on the delivery charges.
Customers are also dealing with higher delivery charges after the Illinois Commerce Commission approved a four-year, $606 million rate hike in 2024 as part of the utility’s power grid improvement plan, increasing average residential customer bills by $1.84 per month through 2027. In January, ComEd filed a new $15.3 billion, four-year grid plan with the ICC to meet increased electricity demand, which is projected to increase residential customer delivery charges by about $3 per month starting in 2028, the utility said.
Last summer, ComEd launched a $10 million customer relief fund to help low-income residential customers and nonprofit organizations. The fund ran dry in three weeks, with 70,000 applications and about 33,000 customers receiving the one-time grants.
This summer’s small business relief fund will be administered through Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, with the ComEd online portal open for applications beginning June 15.
“Thriving small businesses are essential to building strong, resilient communities,” Anthony Simpkins, president and CEO of Neighborhood Housing Services, said in the news release. “This innovative partnership with ComEd will deliver meaningful, direct assistance to entrepreneurs and neighborhood-serving businesses in communities that need it most.”
To qualify for the small business relief fund grant, energy use must be under 500 kilowatts and the customer must have an active ComEd account with a commercial meter and a past-due balance.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
