By Laura Katauskas | Bugle Staff
sweditor@buglenewspapers.com
@BolingbrookInfo
Though still under a careful eye by watchdog groups, ComEd’s Smart Grid and system improvement work is starting to reap results.
ComEd recently released data showing that residents and businesses in Bolingbrook saw a 39 percent decrease in outage frequency and a 43 percent decrease in outage duration in 2015.
ComEd reported that nearly 12,000 customer interruptions were avoided in Bolingbrook since 2012 thanks to distribution automation, or smart switches, which reroutes power around trouble spots.
In addition, 92 percent of Bolingbrook residents experienced zero or one interruption, while more than 60 percent had no outage at all in 2015. Overall, ComEd said Bolingbrook residents experienced a 99.99 percent reliability rate last year.
According to the Citizens Utility Board the “smart grid” is technically all the equipment – power lines, wires, etc. – needed to upgrade ComEd’s entire system. Before the smart grid, the system was on one-way communication.
A smart grid is based on two-way communication, allowing “smart meters” to automatically alert the utility of costly problems, and consumers to take advantage of optional pricing plans that could cut their costs.
“The technology underlying the old power grid has hardly changed in over 100 years, so we are in need of a power grid revamp,” said Jim Chilsen, spokesman for CUB. “If done right, these power grid upgrades should pay for themselves through customer benefits. But we have a long road to travel, and our job is to make sure ComEd lives up to its promise of building a better power grid.
“We’re getting billed for these upgrades, so we deserve the benefits.”
According to ComEd, the smart grid was designed to save Illinois consumers money by reducing power outages and energy waste.
“When we began our smart grid work, we promised our customers that they would see an improvement in the reliability in their electric service, and we are delivering on that promise in Bolingbrook and throughout our service territory,” said Terrence Donnelly, executive vice president and chief operating officer. “ComEd has achieved record levels of reliability the last three years – ranking us in the top 10 percent of utilities nationally – and has one of the nation’s leading smart grid programs, leading our region to economic prowess in the digital economy.”
The Smart Grid law passed by the Illinois General Assembly in 2011 allowed ComEd to take on a $2.6 billion program to modernize the power system in northern Illinois. The legislation allowed ComEd to make the upgrades to the power grid over the next decade, and creates a new regulatory framework under which consumers pay for those upgrades.
CUB originally opposed the idea due to fears that consumer would front the bill.
“The Energy Infrastructure and Modernization Act allows ComEd and Ameren to make a total of about $3 billion in upgrades to Illinois’ power grid over the next several years,” Chilsen added. “It creates a new regulatory framework under which consumers pay for these upgrades.”
CUB opposed the legislation because the group thought it needed stronger consumer protections against rate hikes.
“We do believe these upgrades have the potential to significantly benefit consumers, so our job moving forward will be making sure customers receive the maximum benefits of a modernized power grid—and not just the bill,” Chilsen said.
Now, ComEd filed for a $138 million rate hike April 13.
The increase would take effect Jan. 1, 2017. CUB is planning to review ComEd’s proposal in order to eliminate what it calls “wasteful spending” and reduce the rate increase as much as possible.
“ComEd has launched historic improvements to the power grid that have the potential to benefit all customers, but that doesn’t mean the company should get more money than it can justify. We will continue to hold Illinois’ biggest electric utility accountable and push it to stay true to its responsibility of building a more efficient and reliable power grid,” officials said in a statement regarding the hike.
According to CUB, under the formula rate process, ComEd customers received a $67 million rate decrease this past January, and rate hikes of about $340 million and $232 million in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
ComEd estimates that the $138 million hike would increase the average customer’s bill (660 kilowatt-hours a month) by about $2 a month.
The increase would affect delivery charges—what all customers pay to have the electricity delivered to their homes. Delivery charges take up about a third to a half of the bill
The rest of the bill is taken up by the cost of the electricity itself. Delivery rates are now set by the “smart-grid bill.”
Illinois’ new way of setting electric rates limits how much consumer advocates and regulators can protect customers from rate increases, but each year CUB works to secure the lowest rates possible by reviewing ComEd’s spending, and protesting unjustified capital and operational expenditures.
Since the legislation had passed, the consumer group said its job now is to educate consumers about how they can benefit from the upgrades and will “ act as a watchdog to make sure ComEd and Ameren improve the power grid in a way that actually helps consumers.”
ComEd stated that through investments in smart switches that reroute power around potential problem areas, new storm hardening and vegetation management solutions, and cable replacement, as well as other system improvement programs, more than five million customer interruptions were avoided since 2012.
Last year alone, more than 1.5 million interruptions did not occur because of these improvements.
ComEd began installing smart meters in 2013 and will continue to do so throughout 2018, installing four million digital smart meters across its entire service territory.
There are no dials on a smart meter and it does not require a utility worker to come out to read.
The meter has a digital face, and unlike traditional meters, it can automatically send a consumer’s power usage to a utility. Smart meters would eliminate estimated bills.
The smart meter also alerts the company of an outage immediately, where as before the smart grid, the power company may not have known until notified by customers.
The consumer watchdog also is pushing the utility to live up to its promise to build a more affordable power grid that reduces inefficiency, improves reliability and gives customers the chance to save money by making their homes more efficient and taking part in money-saving electricity programs.
CUB wants to educate consumers on how to take advantage of the smart meter–and encourage customers to check out new pricing plans that could lower their bill. The smart grid should give customers more control over their power bills.
According to CUB, even a small reduction of “peak demand” would make a big difference in a customer’s bill. CUB is encouraging any customer with digital smart meter to enroll in peak time savings which begins this summer.
Call ComEd at 1-844-852-0347, or visit the “Peak Time Savings” page to enroll. Under the program, ComEd gives you a bill credit for reducing electricity use during “peak times” on a few summer days when power demand is highest.
The Peak Time Savings credit will appear as dollars off your total amount due in the “Miscellaneous” section of your bill.
The amount you earn back will be based on your typical usage compared with what you used during one of these peak times.
“Peak Time Savings Hours” are periods on hot summer days when ComEd will give participants the option of delaying heavy power usage to earn bill credits.