Customers are reminded of ways to lower usage, save on bills during peak summer months

Beginning June 1, the average monthly residential customer bill in the ComEd service territory is expected to increase by $2 to $3 a month as a result of the annual PJM Interconnection capacity auction held last year. Rising capacity costs reflect a growing imbalance between rising energy demand and available generation, which is also driving up wholesale energy prices.

These charges, which appear in the supply section of ComEd’s customers’ monthly bill, are not ComEd costs. ComEd does not own power plants and does not control nor profit from prices set by the PJM auction. However, ComEd is working to inform customers of the changes to their bill amid peak usage season and about programs offered by ComEd that can provide customers with relief. And ComEd, along with others, including Governor Pritzker, have also supported efforts to cap and reduce PJM auction prices.

“ComEd is taking proactive steps to support customers who may face financial strain due to anticipated PJM supply cost increases,” said ComEd President and CEO Gil Quiniones. “We are expanding bill‑assistance programs, accelerating energy efficiency offerings, and continuing our work with the State of Illinois and other stakeholders to bring more energy storage and renewable energy onto the grid. As the demand for power continues to increase, generation companies and grid operators must step up to increase capacity that will be needed to maintain grid reliability and keep energy supply costs affordable for customers across the PJM zone and here in northern Illinois.”

PJM cost increases are not new, as capacity charges passed to ComEd customers have risen steadily, with these charges increasing by $12 per month for the average residential customer since 2022. Charges would be significantly higher, closer to a $16 monthly increase, had it not been for the Carbon Mitigation Credit (CMCs) provided for in the state’s landmark Climate and Equitable Jobs Act.

ComEd is also informing customers of other variables affecting their summer bills: higher usage, as well as the depletion of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) announced late last year, resulting from federal tax credits paid by the nuclear plants. The PTC was a one-time credit of $803 million applied over five months, and included in the Carbon Free Energy Resource Adjustment line item on bills. From January through May 2026, it helped the average ComEd residential customer save about $13 per month, depending on energy use.

Residential customers who are looking to lower usage and save on bills leading into summer months have options, through expanding ComEd programs.

Bill assistance

ComEd continues to build on bill assistance offerings year over year, which helped connect 190,000 customers to over $94 million in 2025 alone. The ComEd Low-Income Discount (LID) program, new in 2026, is designed to alleviate the energy burden for customers. LID offers a percentage-based discount on monthly electric bills for qualifying income-eligible customers. Through Q1 of 2026, customers enrolled in LID have saved more than $29 million. This follows last year’s $10 million ComEd Customer Relief Fund, which provided bill relief to over 30,000 customers dealing with rising energy costs. Additional one-time relief measures for summer will be announced by ComEd in the coming weeks.

Ways to save

ComEd’s energy efficiency (EE) program, one of the largest in the nation, recently surpassed $13 billion in total customer bill savings. Customers can leverage EE services and upgrades (e.g. heat pump, HVAC, weatherization) to improve the efficiency of their homes and save on energy use. ComEd also in 2026 introduced new time of day residential rates that are helpful to customers that can shift load to off-peak hours or avoid usage during peak hours – this can be most beneficial to electric vehicle owners. To learn more about ways to save, visit comed.com/homesavings and comed.com/bizsavings for businesses.

ComEd offers customers interested in pursuing battery storage and solar an additional way to save through the Distributed Generation (DG) rebates. Customer savings can vary depending on system size, but a typical residential solar installation is around 7 kW, with incentives of up to $300/kW of nameplate capacity—or roughly $2,100—and additional battery incentives of up to $300/kWh, averaging about $4,050 for a typical system. In 2025, ComEd paid approximately $80.1 million in DG rebates, helping thousands of customers lower costs and access clean energy.

ComEd’s growing customer programs reflect The Exelon Promise. This customer-focused initiative from parent company, Exelon, aims to provide quick relief to customers amid rising supply cost pressures, to advance customer protections, and to pursue lasting solutions to rising energy costs.

With electricity demand in the U.S. hitting record highs, expanding generation resources is essential to provide cost stability for customers in Illinois and across the PJM zone as capacity prices continue to climb. PJM Interconnection—the regional transmission organization serving northern Illinois and 12 other states and D.C.—manages the flow of wholesale power and operates the competitive electricity market. While PJM has made reforms to increase the speed of the interconnection queue, additional actions are needed to incentivize more generation to come online as a means to increase cost predictability and to ensure the market can meet reliability needs for the future, with power plant retirements expected in the years ahead.

To learn more about ComEd’s ways to save and to seek bill assistance, visit www.comed.com/billsupport.

ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ: EXC), a Fortune 200 company and one of the nation’s largest utility companies, serving more than 10.7 million electricity and natural gas customers. ComEd powers the lives of more than 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, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260514446677/en/