Shopping around for suppliers increases among ComEd customers
By Brian Leaf, Rockford Registar-Star
October 1, 2011, Rockford — The fruits of deregulated electricity are ripening for Commonwealth Edison’s residential customers who are switching suppliers in droves for cheaper power.

Read the full version of this story on the Rockford Register-Star's website.

Also, read CUB's fact sheet on electric competition for ComEd customers and Ameren customers.
About 1,150 ComEd customers a day changed suppliers between June 1 and Aug, 12, according to written comments this month by ComEd to state regulators.

While consumers may save money by switching suppliers, regulators and watchdogs say they need to carefully weigh offers from suppliers because switching involves more than just price.

Alternative energy suppliers offer contracts of varying lengths and may charge exit fees if someone wants to switch before the contract expires.

That’s important because ComEd’s rates change June 1 of each year. Someone locked into a lengthy contract may not be able to afford to switch again if rates go lower.

“The market is down right now, so there are expectations that the rate will go down in June,” said Jim Chilsen, spokesman for utility watchdog group Citizens Utility Board.

“We just don’t know by how much.”

Chilsen said a typical customer switching now would save from $9 to $64 between now and June, depending on the plan.

Still, the promise of savings prompted 81,000 ComEd residential customers to switch to alternative suppliers between January and August, ComEd said in an Illinois Power Agency filing.

Supplier competition thickens
Alternative suppliers have long provided Illinois commercial and industrial customers with competitive electricity prices.

Residential programs lagged before December’s ruling by the Illinois Commerce Commission eliminated a major hurdle for alternative suppliers. The ICC allowed them to piggyback on ComEd’s monthly bills.

Consolidated bills eliminated the cost of separate billing systems and the hassle for consumers of managing two accounts for electricity.

“It made it easier for (alternative suppliers) to get into the residential market,” said ComEd spokesman Paul Callighan.

The ICC says 21 companies are approved to sell electricity in northern Illinois.

And their business is growing.

Quickly.

“If this trend were to continue, it could easily result that over a million residential customers switch to ARES (alternative retail electric suppliers) over the next two or three years,” ComEd said in its regulatory filing.

Consumers can compare plans
While the shift is dramatic, it has no effect on ComEd’s balance sheet. ComEd does not produce power. Nor does it profit from electricity sales. It is an electricity distribution company that makes its money getting power to homes and businesses via the wires it owns and maintains, also known as the grid.

Callighan said typical monthly charges on electricity bills are 70 percent for the energy itself and 30 percent for delivering it.

ComEd’s electricity price is set by regulators. That price is passed on to consumers with no markup.

“We have no vested interest in the energy portion of the bill,” Callighan said. “We’re making our return on the distribution of electricity.”

But companies that broker electricity see profits in those rates. They’re aggressively competing for customers.

“It is hard to miss the advertising,” said Torsten Clausen, director of the ICC’s retail marketing office, who said alternative electricity suppliers are buying space on billboards, sending direct mail and selling via telemarketers.

Clausen said the ICC has information to compare plans from some of the companies selling electricity in Illinois at the PlugInIllinois.org.

Another place to check is the Citizens Utility Board website.

Clausen said there are enough variations AMONG companies and their offerings that it’s important for customers to find a plan to fit their needs.

“We really want consumers to do a little bit of shopping, rather than signing up with the first supplier they hear about,” Clausen said.