Hey, Kane County! How do I compare the rates for the county’s Electric Aggregation Program to what I’m currently paying ComEd?

We’re glad you asked.

With the recent announcement of the new rates under the electric aggregation program for residents and small businesses in unincorporated Kane County, there have been a lot of questions about how to compare these rates to Commonwealth Edison’s rate.

The plain and honest truth is, Kane County’s unincorporated residents will save money under electric aggregation, generally in the range of $100 to $200 over a two-year period.

To calculate those savings, a resident or small business owner needs to consider fee charges as well as the basic rate per killowatt hour.

“Many people will look at their current ComEd bill and see an electric supply rate just under 6 cents per kWh and think that they will actually be paying more with Kane County’s electric aggregation rate from Dynegy Energy,” explains Cecilia Govrik from the Kane County Division of Environmental & Water Resources. “However, that is not the case.”

The total ComEd rate for electricity is made up of three separate charges:

1. Transmission Service Charge
2. Electric Supply Charge
3. Purchased Electricity Adjustment (PEA) fee, which adjusts on a monthly basis and fluctuates between –(0.5)¢ per kWh to 0.5¢ per kWh

“When residents are comparing the new rate from Dynegy to their current ComEd bill, they need to be looking for all three of these charges and adding them up to get a true estimate of how much money they can save,” Govrik said.

Under Kane County’s electric aggregation program, participants will pay only one fixed, all-inclusive rate. There is NOT a separate transmission rate, and Dynegy will NEVER charge a PEA fee.

The Price to Compare

For example, Mr. John Doe lives in unincorporated Kane County. He received the letter from Dynegy Energy last week and is really concerned that his rate will be going up starting in August! His ComEd supply rate on his last bill was 5.959¢ per kWh, which seems much lower than the 6.533¢ per kWh he would have under the electric aggregation program.

However, Mr. Doe needs to add in two other charges:

• Electric Supply rate 5.959¢
• Transmission rate: 1.074¢ plus
• PEA fee: – (0.058¢) for June, the PEA fee is negative and is a credit to ratepayers, but often it goes the other direction and is an extra charge to ratepayers

ComEd rate: 6.975¢ per kWh

When comparing the total ComEd rate of 6.975¢ per kWh to the county’s rate of 6.533¢ from Dynegy, Mr. Doe would be paying less for his electricity because of the new electric aggregation program.

Because ComEd’s base electric supply rate changes throughout the year and the PEA fee resets every month, the Illinois Commerce Commission assists customers by calculating the “Price to Compare” for ComEd and posting it online at Plug In Illinois.

Overall, an average household in unincorporated Kane County using 13,000 kWh of electricity annually can expect to save between $100 and $200 over a two-year period under the electric aggregation program.

For more information about Kane County’s electric aggregation program, please visit the Dynergy Energy website or call the DES Customer Care line at 844-351-7691.

• Editor’s Note: As this article indicates, the average resident in unincorporated Kane County would save about $100 to $200 compared to ComEd over a two-year period. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the electric aggregation savings over ComEd would be “per year.”