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Billing Frequently Asked Questions
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What are the charges that appear on my RRTP customer bill?
The core components of all bills include Delivery Service Charges, Electricity Supply Charges, and Taxes and other charges. These components are broken into the following line items on customers’ bills. Most line items appear on both RRTP bills and fixed rate service bills. Those that appear only on RRTP bills or are calculated differently for RRTP customers are indicated below. Some of the line items and charges will be the same for both customers enrolled in the ComEd Residential Real-Time Pricing Program (RRTP) and for customers on ComEd's fixed-rate service. Some line items will be different, or will be calculated based on different rates. Below, you will find more information about the line items on your bill, and how the charges for RRTP customers differ from the charges for customers on ComEd's fixed-rate service. All charges on ComEd bills are based on tariffs and riders approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission. ComEd's full rate book is available at www.comed.com/customerservice/rates/rateinformation and should be considered the official record for these items. Electricity Supply Charges are all of the charges related to the amount of electricity used in your home each month. RRTP customers receive an hourly energy supply charge based on market rates, which do not include capacity charges. In contrast, the supply charges for fixed-rate customers include capacity charges. That is why capacity charges are collected as a separate line item on the RRTP participants' bill. This is not an additional charge. Also included here is the General Assembly Rate Relief Credit, which is the same charge for RRTP participants and fixed-rate customers. Delivery Service Charges include all of the costs required to deliver electricity to your home via transmission and distribution lines. These costs include a distribution facilities charge, a monthly customer charge (which covers the costs for a service connection, billing, and customer service), a standard metering charge to cover the costs of standard metering services, and a transmission services charge to cover the costs of building, operating, and maintaining ComEd's transmission system. All of these charges are the same for both RRTP and fixed-rate customers. Taxes and other charges include taxes as well as other fees, such as the additional meter lease charge, franchise costs, as well as costs related to energy efficiency programs. Back to top |
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What are the differences between a RRTP customer's bill and a non-RRTP customer's bill?
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Why do I pay a different Transmission Services Charge under the RRTP program?
ComEd purchases transmission services for fixed-rate customers in regional markets regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). This charge is apportioned to the different customer groups on the fixed rate, resulting in different Transmission Services Charge rates for residential, small commercial and industrial customers. Transmission Services Charge with RRTP ComEd purchases transmission services for hourly rate customers in regional markets regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The full charge is included in the hourly customers' Transmission Service Charge rate, and the same rate is charged to all hourly customers (residential, commercial and industrial). For the June 2008 through May 2009 monthly billing periods this will result in a lower Transmission Services Charge rate for RRTP customers than for residential customers on the fixed rate. Back to top |
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What is the Purchased Electricity Adjustment?
The Purchased Electricity Adjustment (PEA) acts as the balancing mechanism to assure that ComEd's supply charges exactly match supply costs over time. This balance is reviewed monthly and the charge rate is adjusted accordingly. ComEd's revenues track the actual payments that ComEd must make to procure supply service. The Purchased Electricity Adjustment can be a debit or credit that addresses the difference, if any, between the actual amount of money collected from ComEd's customers for electricity supplied and the cost incurred to supply that electricity. ComEd is taking steps to limit the amount that the PEA will vary from one month to the next. The supply costs are tracked (and the PEA is adjusted) separately for different customer groups. As a result, the Purchased Electricity Adjustments may differ between RRTP customers and customers on the standard fixed-rate service. In 2008 there were seven months when this charge was lower for the hourly customers and five months when this charge was higher for the hourly customers. Back to top |
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Why do I still have to pay ComEd's Standard Metering Charge?
The delivery services that ComEd provides include standard metering charges for all the different customer classes that ComEd supplies. Thus, there is a Standard Metering charge for all ComEd residential customers. If a meter other than the standard meter is needed by a customer (RRTP customers need a special meter to record hourly energy usage), ComEd calculates the incremental additional cost of the meter being used over the meter that would be used for the fixed-rate service. This is why RRTP customers must pay the Standard Metering Charge, and an incremental additional charge for the hourly recording meter that is required in order to participate in the ComEd RRTP program. Under ComEd's current Meter-Related Facilities Lease fees, the meter for RRTP would normally cost $7.64 per month. (This is the cost as of January 2009 and is subject to change.) The RRTP program provides the meter to the first 110,000 participants in the program at the reduced fee of $2.25 per month. The balance of cost of the meter (as well as the costs of additional program services) is paid by all residential customers under a $0.14 per month charge from Rider RCA added to the Customer Charge. All customers are charged a portion of the cost of the meters for RRTP customers because the anticipated decrease in energy used by RRTP customers is likely to lower peak demand for electricity, which has benefits to all customers.The reduced monthly meter lease fee of $2.25 per month and the exemption of the meter exchange fee only apply to the first meter on the account. If a customer has more than one meter on the account, this customer is subject to the full regular monthly meter lease fee and a meter exchange fee for each additional hourly recording meter. The reduced monthly meter lease fee of $2.25 per month and the exemption of the meter exchange fee only apply to the first meter on the account. If a customer has more than one meter on the account, this customer is subject to the full regular monthly meter lease fee and a meter exchange fee for each additional hourly recording meter. Back to top |
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What is the Capacity Supply Charge?
The Capacity Supply Charge covers ComEd's costs to reserve enough electricity to meet demand at all times, including peak hours. Capacity Supply Charges essentially allow ComEd to reserve generating capacity in advance, ensuring that enough electricity will be available when it is needed. For residential customers who pay the standard fixed-rate, capacity costs are included in the Electricity Supply Charge. For RRTP participants, the Electricity Supply Charge does not include these capacity costs. Instead, ComEd reserves capacity for RRTP participants through the regional electricity market and lists this charge as a separate line item on RRTP bills (labeled as the Capacity Charge). As the market price of capacity fluctuates, both standard fixed-rate service customers and RRTP hourly rate participants will see adjustments to their rate. The Capacity Charge item on your bill is adjusted every year in June. ComEd does not profit from the Capacity Charge. Instead, like with the cost of electricity, ComEd simply passes through capacity costs to its customers without mark up. Back to top |
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How is my Capacity Charge calculated?
There are two components to this charge: a Capacity Obligation and the Capacity Charge rate. Multiplied together, they make up the Capacity Charge item on your bill. The method used to calculate your individual Capacity Charge depends on when your RRTP meter was first installed. Capacity Obligation If you were enrolled in the RRTP program during the summer of 2008, your Capacity Obligation is based on your individual electricity usage data from last summer. In this case, ComEd calculates your highest electricity demand for the five hours of the summer when the overall system demand was highest (this has historically occurred between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.). These numbers are then averaged and adjusted to determine your contribution to the system load creating your Capacity Obligation. Your Capacity Obligation is then used to calculate your Capacity Charge. So the higher your demand was during the five peak hours of last summer, the higher your Capacity Charge will be this year beginning June 1, 2009. If you did not have an RRTP meter in place during the summer of 2008, your Capacity Obligation is set by using averages for your customer class. (ComEd's four residential customer classes are: Single Family Non-Electric Space Heating, Single Family Electric Space Heating, Multi-Family Non-Electric Space Heating, and Multi-Family Electric Space Heating.) In future years, your Capacity Obligation will be based on your individual energy use during the highest demand hours of the previous summer. What is the Capacity Charge Rate? The Capacity Charge rate is updated annually based on the cost of capacity in the PJM wholesale market. On June 1, 2008 the Capacity Charge rate was $3.46 per kW-Month. The increase in the Capacity Charge rate can have a significant impact on your bill. For example, a typical single family home has a Capacity Obligation of around 3.5 kW. (Most apartments will have a much smaller Capacity Obligation.) This means that starting June 1, 2008 the Capacity Charge for a typical single family home would be $12.06 per month. Back to top |
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How can I reduce my Capacity Charge in the future?
Reducing your electricity usage during peak hours (this has historically occurred between 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. on the hottest days of the summer) may help to reduce the Electricity Supply Charge portion of your bills this summer and could reduce the Capacity Charge portion of your future bills. In general, the price of electricity goes up when demand is high, so the peak system load is likely to correspond with higher real-time prices. This means that, if you can reduce your electricity use when prices are high, you'll also have a good chance of reducing your demand during peak system load. This in turn may result in a lower Capacity Obligation and, thus, a lower Capacity Charge in the future. Back to top |
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What is the Miscellaneous Procurement Component Charge?
The Miscellaneous Procurement Component Charge is a line item for hourly customers only. It is now itemized on your bill to make it easier to compare the total supply costs under RRTP to the fixed-rate service. This charge recovers the costs that ComEd incurs related to procuring electricity supply directly from PJM-administered markets for customers with hourly energy pricing that are not recovered through the application of the Capacity Charge, the Electricity Supply Charge, and the Transmission Charge. Similar costs for customers on the fixed rate are included in their Electricity Supply Charge. Back to top |
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What is the Customer Charge?
The Customer Charge is the same for both RRTP participants and customers on the standard fixed-rate service. This charge recovers costs of the standard service connection, customer service operations, and billing. The Customer Charge also includes charges from Rider RCA for state funds for renewable energy resources, coal technology development, low-income energy assistance, and the RRTP program cost recovery charge. Back to top |
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What is the Energy Efficiency Programs charge?
The Energy Efficiency Programs charge is a charge that is the same for all residential customers. This charge recovers costs related to ComEd's energy efficiency and demand response plans, which were approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission. This includes programs that are developed, implemented, or administered by or for ComEd or the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). ComEd does not mark up or profit from these charges. They are simply a pass through of costs incurred by ComEd. Back to top |
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How do we know that ComEd isn't making any money on supply-related processes?
The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) requires ComEd to procure electricity on behalf of its residential customers and pass those electric supply costs through to its customers without any markup. They are simply a pass through of costs incurred by ComEd. The ICC regulates this bill line item and is responsible to ensure ComEd earns nothing on the supply procurement process. Back to top |
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