The Illinois Commerce Commission voted Tuesday on two ComEd proposals, both which will lead to increased charges in customer bills.
The ICC is allowing ComEd to begin collecting an additional $155.7 million in yearly revenue from customers.
The new delivery rates will increase a single family's bill an average of $3.15 per month, or $37.80 per year, the Illinois Commerce Commission said. Rates will go into effect June 1 and be included on customer bills in the next billing cycle.
Originally, ComEd had requested a $326.3 million increase but after a thorough evaluation, the ICC reduced the proposal by more than $170 million.
ICC staff, the Citizen Utility Board, the IIEC and the Illinois Attorney General made reductions in a number of areas including operations, maintenance, incentive compensation, and pension contributions.
ComEd opposes the ICC decision, saying the company needs the full rate increase to modernize their system.
"Since the last rate case three years ago, ComEd has invested substantially to enhance its system and run its business, and also has cut costs substantially to maintain financial health and manage costs to consumers. ComEd had filed for this rate increase to recover the costs of making these investments and to continue maintaining a reliable electric delivery system," the company said
In response, ComEd said it's moving forward with its "Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act." The legislative proposal will invest $2.6 billion in Illinois electric grid over the next 10 years, reduce outages and power disruptions, create jobs and protect regulatory oversight.
In a separate vote, the ICC rejected ComEd's proposal for an "alternative" to traditional rate reviews. ComEd wanted to start a Rate Accelerated Customer Enhancement Pilot (Rate ACEP). The Rate ACEP would allow ComEd to charge customers additional money for the cost of several projects being implemented or developed.
ComEd claimed the money from Rate ACEP increase would go toward urban underground facilities reinvestment, an electric vehicle initiative pilot program, low-income assistance program and a smart grid investments with advanced meter deployment.
The ICC denied approval saying it did not comply with requirements of the Public Utilities Act. Commissioners expressed concern about additional costs on top of the current delivery service rates.
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