Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative representative Sharon Durling wasn’t at all equivocal when she let electrical aggregation participants know about a credit that some residents received on their ComEd bills in October and November.

“Great news for your residents currently enrolled in your aggregation program with Dynegy Energy!” she said. “The results are an immediately-effective and approximate 10% additional annualized savings.”

In Durling’s email, “10% additional annualized savings” was highlighted in boldface and italics.

Kane County began its electric aggregation program in 2015, offering residents in unincorporated areas access to the lower rates available through bulk purchasing. Residents in those areas are enrolled in the program unless they choose to opt out.

According to NIMEC, those residents will have received a credit on their ComEd bills in October and November. Surling said it’s also worth noting that a similar credit is not being refunded to ComEd supply customers in this manner.

“Rather than reimbursing ratepayers individually, those funds are baked into the current ComEd base rate of 7.224¢ per kWh,” she said.

In 2018, the Illinois Commerce Commission reached a settlement for past charges to ComEd territory for transmission costs. The ICC sought a change in how transmission costs are allocated across the PJM grid that serves 13 states, including Northern Illinois. Residents in ComEd territory were overcharged, and an agreement resulted in a multi-million-dollar reimbursement.

The agreement impacts how costs of federally-regulated transmission charges are allocated.

Dynegy Energy is sharing the credit with all current aggregation program customers in an amount based on the terms of the ICC settlement, Durling said.

SOURCE: Kane County Division of Environmental and Water Resources