Why is my Commonwealth Edison bill higher?

You may have noticed that your electricity bill from Commonwealth Edison has increased over recent months.  To make certain that you are paying the correct rate, you may want to check a few elements on your recent bills:

1. Your electricity usage: The 'Meter Information' section on the back page of your monthly ComEd bill show both the previous and present meter readings.  The difference between those readings is the amount of electricity consumed during the billing period, shown as kilowatt hours (kWh).  You can compare electricity consumption on your 2022 February bill with your 2021 February usage that is listed in the bar graph on the front side of your bill.  If your usage is higher, it could be from the use of a space heater, holiday lights, or an appliance using phantom energy (continuously drawing power).  Do some investigating in your home to help determine the cause.
2. The Purchased Electricity Adjustment (PEA): The ‘Supply’ section on the back page of your monthly ComEd bill itemizes your electricity supply charges.  Customers purchasing their electricity supply from ComEd should see a line item entitled “Purchased Electricity Adjustment” or “PEA”.  The PEA can be a charge or a credit which changes monthly to reflect fluctuations in wholesale power rates paid by ComEd.  Because there was a credit of 0.232 cents per kWh on your January bill, followed by a maximum charge of 0.500 cents per kWh on your February bill, the total cost of electricity for February was much more than in January.  The PEA charge is based on the volume of kWh consumed, so consumers with higher consumption would have received a higher total PEA charge in February.  The table below shows the based ComEd rate and the PEA for the past several months (source:   Illinois Commerce Commission, Plug In Illinois)

3.  Alternate suppliers:  If you have an alternate supplier – the name of that alternative supplier and the price they charged for electricity supply will be listed in ‘Supply’ section on the back page of your ComEd bill.  If no alternate suppliers are listed, ComEd is your supplier.  Those households that were selected to participate in the 2021 North Shore Electric Aggregation program will show MC Squared Energy Services as their alternative supplier.  All accounts enrolled in the North Shore Electric Aggregation program are charged an electricity supply rate equal to the monthly ComEd rate – in other words, they are not charged any more or less than ComEd customers. The Village participated in this program in order to receive a community grant that will pay for the Village’s new Sustainability Plan as well as LED streetlight upgrades in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

ComEd and MC-Squared customers can take the total supply charges (the sum of the electricity supply charge, the transmission charge, and the purchased electricity adjustment) and divide by the number of kWh used.  For a residential bill in February, that number should match 7.809 + 0.5 = 8.309 cents per kWh.  

For more assistance understanding your electricity bill and other utility bills, 
contact the Citizens Utility Board by clicking here or calling 1-800-669-5556.

See more information about electric aggregation in Skokie.

Front Page of ComEd Bill - Sample

Back Page of ComEd Bill - Sample