ComEd Customers to Receive Personalized Information About How Grid Investments Benefit Them

Rhea-AI Summary

ComEd is enhancing customer experience by providing personalized reliability reports with March bills for residential and small-business customers. These reports detail individual service reliability, outage information, and total outages avoided due to investments in a reliable power grid. Since 2012, ComEd's smart grid initiatives have led to over 16 million avoided service interruptions and approximately $2.7 billion in societal savings. Such improvements were highlighted during outages caused by severe weather events.

Positive

• Introduced personalized reliability reports for enhanced customer transparency.
• Investments in smart grid technology have avoided over 16 million outages.
• $2.7 billion in societal savings attributed to reduced service interruptions.

Negative

• None.

In the face of a global pandemic, ComEd understands that reliable power has never been more important and is committed to meeting customers’ energy needs. To demonstrate this commitment and to show the impact ComEd’s energy investments have had on electric service, the company is providing residential and small-business customers with personalized reliability reports with their March bills. This is the first year small-business customers with a single location and the third consecutive year residential customers will receive the reports.

The report offers customers an individualized look at their service reliability from the previous year. Customers will see their individual reliability information due in part to upgrades to the grid – and the installation of smart meters in particular. The reports show customers’ overall reliability and detailed information for any outages the customer experienced that lasted more than one minute. This data includes the specific date and cause of the outage, including the amount of time it took before power was restored.

“The last thing we want customers to worry about during the COVID-19 pandemic is whether their home or business will have power,” said ComEd President and COO Terry Donnelly. “That’s why we’re committed to providing customers with safe and reliable energy when they need it the most. This commitment includes ongoing investments we’ve made in a more resilient power grid to ensure that families and businesses can count on reliable power as they navigate extreme weather events alongside the pandemic.”

The power of these investments was on full display in August when an unprecedented derecho storm and tornadoes interrupted power to more than 800,000 customers. If not for these investments, this storm would have caused nearly twice as many families and businesses to lose power, a two-week restoration and millions of additional dollars in costs.

Since starting smart grid investments in 2012, ComEd customers have been spared more than 16 million service interruptions due in part to smart grid and system improvements, including distribution automation or “smart switches” that reroute power in real-time around potential problem areas. The avoided outages have resulted in $2.7 billion in societal savings, including avoided business losses.

Residential customers, as well as small-business customers with a single location, will receive their reports with their March 2021 bills if they were customers of record at their current location as of Jan. 1, 2020, and have not stopped service with ComEd by the time they receive their March bill. Customers who receive their bills electronically will receive an email link to their report.

For information on what ComEd is doing to improve reliability, visit ComEd.com/SmartGrid.

Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ: EXC), the nation’s leading competitive energy provider, with approximately 10 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 4 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. For more information visit ComEd.com, and connect with the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210310005709/en/

FAQ

What are ComEd's personalized reliability reports?

ComEd's personalized reliability reports provide customers with detailed information on their service reliability, including outage history and recovery times.

How many service interruptions has ComEd avoided since 2012?

ComEd has avoided over 16 million service interruptions since starting smart grid investments in 2012.

What savings have resulted from ComEd's grid improvements?

The improvements in ComEd's power grid have resulted in approximately $2.7 billion in societal savings.

When will customers receive their reliability reports?

Residential and small-business customers will receive their reliability reports with their March 2021 bills if they were customers of record as of January 1, 2020.