Articles from ComEd

ComEd today announced that municipal and community organizations in northern Illinois can now apply for the 2025 Powering Communities Grant Program, which advances environmental initiatives; accelerates public safety and clean transportation projects; and increases access to arts programs in communities ComEd serves. Organizations are encouraged to apply for one of the three annual grant programs: Green Region, Powering Safe Communities, and Powering the Arts. Qualifying proposals are eligible for grants of up to $10,000 each.

ComEd on Jan. 16 presented to the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) plans to construct a new transmission line in DeKalb County to meet growing energy demand, reinforce grid reliability and support economic growth. If approved, the Kishwaukee Area Reliability Extension (KARE) Project will be constructed south of the city of DeKalb beginning next year.

ComEd today announced it has awarded $190,500 in scholarships to 83 local students pursuing post-secondary education in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM). Through the Future of Energy scholarship program, ComEd offers awards of up to $10,000 for college STEM programs and up to $2,500 for trade school programs to support more diverse, local students – those who will play a key role in advancing a cleaner energy future here in Illinois and across the country.

ComEd was recently recognized by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) as a recipient of two Emergency Response Awards. The Emergency Recovery Award was presented to ComEd for its exemplary recovery efforts in response to severe weather that spawned more than 40 tornadoes in northern Illinois last July, and the Emergency Assistance Award was presented to ComEd in recognition of its assistance efforts restoring service to homes and businesses in the South following Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

ComEd and Nicor Gas are collaborating to provide advanced energy efficiency certification opportunities to recent graduates of the utilities’ Market Development Initiative (MDI) programs. MDI is an educational offering designed to provide training and advanced certifications for new and experienced professionals in the growing energy efficiency, with a focus on local and diverse individuals and entrepreneurs.

ComEd President and CEO Gil Quiniones, Illinois Commerce Commission Chairman Doug Scott, Boone County Board Chairman Karl Johnson and representatives of Ameresco, Inc. cut the ribbon today on a community solar project constructed on a former landfill owned by Boone County and operated by the city of Belvidere. It is the 160th community solar project in ComEd’s northern Illinois service area and one of the first to serve a county government and area businesses.

ComEd, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), today celebrated the commissioning of a new battery-energy storage system in Rockford. This battery system is a critical component of ComEd’s ongoing $6.5 million solar and battery energy storage project, funded in part through the DOE Enabling Extreme Real-Time Grid Integration of Solar Energy (ENERGISE) program. The pilot project pairs this new battery energy storage system with an existing customer-owned solar deployment, located at Rockford’s Prairie Street Brewing Company, and will enable ComEd’s research into distributed energy resource management systems that will support the efficient use of solar power generation and grid resiliency.

Gil C. Quiniones, President and CEO of ComEd, was appointed yesterday chairperson of the board of the Illinois Utilities Business Diversity Council (IUBDC) at the group’s year-end board meeting. He succeeds Rebecca Losli, president of Illinois American Water, who led IUBDC in 2024 and remains an active member of the IUBDC Board of Directors.

As temperatures drop, ComEd’s Energy Doctors are available to offer energy-saving tips that can help families and individuals manage energy use and save money on electric bills.

ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (Caucus) today announced the third cohort of communities participating in the EV Readiness Program, a unique initiative to help local governments prepare to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and EV charging infrastructure. A total of 20 communities will receive technical assistance through the program that will enable them to streamline policies and implement best practices for safe and effective regional transportation electrification.

As the holiday season approaches, northern Illinois energy companies are joining the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Chicago and Northern Illinois to warn customers to be on heightened alert for attempted scams, which tend to increase during this time of year.

ComEd today joined workforce partners and members of the community in celebrating its newest graduating class from Power Up Academy, a career training program launched last year to remove barriers to entry for local residents pursuing engineering related careers. During the event, City Colleges of Chicago and ComEd announced plans to expand their partnership through the accreditation of the program, ensuring that all past and future participants of the program will have the opportunity to qualify for up to 13 credit hours as part of their 14-week training program.

In recognition of ComEd’s successful efforts to achieve best-in-class reliability, PA Consulting, the global innovation and transformation consultancy, yesterday presented the electric company the 2024 ReliabilityOne® award for Outstanding Reliability Performance in the Midwest Metropolitan Service Area. ComEd also received the Climate Action Leader award for advancing the planning and operations to transition into a cleaner future grid.

Rising interest among consumers to reduce their carbon footprints and energy costs is driving the growth of community and rooftop solar in ComEd’s northern Illinois region, and its new hosting capacity map for solar developers is helping streamline the process and meet the demand.

ComEd today announced that two of its energy efficiency offerings – Home Energy Savings (HES) and Strategic Energy Management (SEM) – were recognized with Leaders of the Pack awards from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a national nonprofit organization focused on advancing energy-efficiency policies that help customers reduce waste while combatting climate change. The two awards were among only 10 utility-funded, energy efficiency programs to receive ACEEE awards this year.

As part of a larger investment to accelerate the equitable growth of electric vehicles (EVs) in northern Illinois, ComEd is announcing that its business and public sector fleet EV rebate program can now be utilized for the purchase of certified, pre-owned electric fleet vehicles and repowered battery electric vehicles to help reduce the costs of transitioning to electric commercial and public sector fleets.

Following a competitive process, ComEd joined Governor Pritzker, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Mayor of Rockford and Region 1 Planning Council (R1) to announce the DOE has awarded ComEd $50 million in federal funding to enhance the power grid’s ability to deliver affordable, clean energy to Illinois communities. The funds will enable ComEd and its local partners to launch advanced clean energy investments, expand carbon free energy resources and offer new clean energy jobs training for the local community. This is the largest-ever ComEd Smart Grid Grant, distributed by DOE’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership (GRIP) program and funded through the landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The festive season is fast approaching, bringing with it opportunities for communities to come together and spread cheer. To support local holiday light displays across northern Illinois, ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus today announced grants of up to $2,500 each for 24 northern Illinois communities through the annual ComEd Powering the Holidays Program.

As many homeowners consider a furnace tune up or replacement ahead of the winter season, ComEd is unveiling an all-in-one resource to help customers consider the benefits of switching from traditional furnaces to electric heat pumps. The new Go Electric site provides information to help customers consider the benefits and options of switching to high-efficiency heat pumps, pricing and incentives, how to locate trained contractors, and other key information.

ComEd today announced it is now accepting applications for $175,000 worth of college and trades scholarships made available through its Future of Energy Scholars program. Now through November 3, 2024, students who are pursuing a future career in energy, either through a trades training program or a STEM-related college major, can apply for scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 each.

During the annual Chicago Drives Electric event, ComEd today announced the Point of Purchase initiative, which leverages ComEd’s EV rebate programs and will deliver instant discounts to qualifying business and public sector customers in the market for electric fleet vehicles. The initiative, designed to provide more certainty around the total costs of a conversion to all-electric fleet vehicles, is powered by a growing collaboration of more than 30 auto dealerships, various EV manufacturers and local EV stakeholders.

Following the state of Illinois’ launch of the new application period for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a federal energy-assistance program, ComEd reminds customers that the energy company also offers a wide-range of support options to compliment these grants and help customers of all income levels.

ComEd today joined Elevate and Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation to highlight milestone progress made on electrifying low-income homes in Chicago and across the northern Illinois region served by ComEd. Through ComEd’s Whole Home Electric program, 450 low-income homes and apartment units have been electrified, with homes retrofitted with all-electric appliances and heating and cooling systems, which are expected to help reduce energy usage, lower net energy costs and lower carbon emissions for the customers and the surrounding community.

In a continued effort to broaden access to arts and culture across northern Illinois, ComEd and the League of Chicago Theatres today announced the distribution of more than $200,000 in grants to 18 local arts organizations. Through the Powering the Arts Program, ComEd will provide individual grants of up to $25,000 to nonprofits, including local theaters, arts programs, cultural centers and youth-focused organizations dedicated to enriching their communities through artistic expression.

Plug in America, a national electric vehicle advocacy group, today announced that ComEd is the only energy company to earn a 2024 Drive Electric award. ComEd was selected for the exclusive honors based on its efforts to advance the electric vehicle (EV) movement, and for the creation of EV customer programs designed to address gaps and equitably increase the adoption of EVs.

ComEd is again being hailed as a national leader for its work to drive economic growth and job creation across northern Illinois, according to new rankings out today by Site Selection Magazine, which named ComEd as one of the Top 20 utilities in economic development. Based on a review of corporate relocations and expansion from the last year and its research into utilities with active economic development departments, Site Selection finds ComEd is once again in the upper echelon of utilities in attracting new businesses, jobs and investments and for overall support of economic development.

ComEd today joined Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to present a $45,000 electric vehicle (EV) rebate check to the Village of Skokie, helping provide funding to electrify the Village’s municipal fleet. Skokie is one of the first municipalities to receive a rebate through ComEd’s beneficial electrification (BE) plan, supported by the state’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), which is designed to accelerate the adoption of all-electric technologies.

ComEd today announced that QUILT, an Illinois nonprofit supporting disadvantaged communities, will license reserve fiber optics on the ComEd system as part of its efforts to provide affordable high-speed broadband service on Chicago’s South and West Sides. Other similar agreements will be enabled by a $14.6 million grant awarded to ComEd last year by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (IIJA) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (NTIA), which supports a build-out of reserve middle-mile fiber that can be licensed by any InternetService Provider (ISP) to expand access to affordable broadband service in underserved communities. State and local broadband technology leaders participated in today’s announcement at the Woodlawn Resource Center in Chicago’s Woodlawn community.

ComEd crews continue to work around the clock to restore service to customers impacted by a prolonged weather system that included severe thunderstorms and wind speeds up to 70 miles per hour and brought significant destruction to northern Illinois, particularly the northern suburbs of Chicago. Damage from the storm included downed trees and large branches, many of which landed on power lines. These will all be cleared in order to restore customers.

As part of an ongoing commitment to sustainability and the enhancement of natural environments, ComEd and Openlands, a nationally recognized leader in environmental conservation, announced the 23 recipients of their 2024 Green Region Grant Program. This year, grants totaling $200,000—up to $10,000 each—were awarded to support the preservation of nature, combat climate change and create safe habitats for pollinators and wildlife in communities across northern Illinois.

As part of an ongoing effort to support customers considering making the switch to electric vehicles (EVs), ComEd today announced the recent launch of its new Electric Vehicle Service Provider (EVSP) Network. This new, user-friendly resource is designed to help residential and commercial customers find an ICC-certified service provider to install EV charging infrastructure at their home or business. Nearly 50 of these vendors are currently included in the network, and the list continues to grow. These vendors are well-versed on rebate programs offered by ComEd to help customers qualify for rebates when installing EV chargers and streamline the process by applying for rebates on their behalf.

ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus today recognized a diverse group of communities completing a program designed to help prepare them to accommodate the growth of electric vehicles (EVs) and EV infrastructure. Through their completion of the EV Readiness Program, 12 local governments are the latest to receive support that allows them to develop permitting, safety plans and community engagement strategies so that EV use is made accessible to all.

ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC) are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 Powering Safe Communities grant program. This year, the program awarded over $185,000 in grants across ComEd’s northern Illinois service territory. The grants, worth up to $10,000 each, are awarded to projects that support municipal public safety and clean energy initiatives, with a focus on electrification projects that can reduce carbon emissions, improve public health outcomes and advance community resiliency.

ComEd today announced the appointments of Elizabeth “Liz” Buchanan, 39, president of NielsenIQ, North America, and Stephen “Biff” Bowman, 61, retired CFO of The Northern Trust Company, to its Board as independent directors, expanding its board to include five independent directors, for a total of seven directors.

ComEd, the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago and Goodwill Greater Milwaukee & Chicago today hosted a graduation event for 89 teens who have completed summer job training that prepared them for emerging career opportunities in the clean energy and construction fields.

ComEd crews have successfully restored power to more than 410,000 customers out of the more than 430,000 customers affected by Monday evening’s storms, the last of a series of storms that could top the derecho of August 2020 in terms of severity. The company estimates that, without the system improvements made over the past several years, Monday’s extreme weather could have resulted in twice as many customer outages.

ComEd crews have successfully restored power to more than 387,000 customers, accounting for over 90 percent of the more than 430,000 customers affected by the storms on Monday evening. These storms caused extensive damage throughout the ComEd service area, spanning northern Illinois, with the National Weather Service confirming 10 tornadoes and winds exceeding 100 mph.

ComEd crews have restored power to 353,281 customers, more than 80 percent of the over 440,000 customers impacted by Monday evening’s storms. The storms caused widespread damage across the service territory on Monday evening, with 10 tornadoes confirmed by the National Weather Service and severe winds peaking over 100 mph.

Following a series of severe and incredibly destructive storms on Monday evening, which spawned at least 10 confirmed tornadoes and generated winds in excess of 70 MPH, ComEd crews continue to work around the clock to restore power to impacted customers. Approximately 206,000 customers have been restored as of 8am this morning, with more than 430,000 customers originally impacted following Monday evening’s storm system. ComEd is increasing resources and doubling staffing to support a full restoration for customers, which is expected by Friday evening.

While summer festivals and barbecues currently light up our communities, it's never too early to start planning for the magic of the winter holiday season. For the fourth consecutive year, ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus invite municipalities and community organizations to apply for competitive grants of up to $2,500 each through the ComEd Powering the Holidays Program. This program supports vibrant community holiday lights events, held in ComEd’s northern Illinois service territory, that celebrate the diverse cultures and traditions of the region.

ComEd today unveiled the newly built Libertyville Training Center, celebrating 21 trainees from the site’s overhead electrical apprenticeship school. The Libertyville Training Center marks the 7th training center in the northern Illinois service region, highlighting ComEd’s commitment to boosting training opportunities across the communities it serves to build a diverse and skilled talent pipeline needed to construct and maintain the nation’s most reliable grid in the years ahead.

ComEd is celebrating the first graduates of a new workforce training offered as part of its Market Development Initiative (MDI). The initiative provides resources and training to help create a diverse, local workforce that is qualified to take on growing roles in the energy efficiency industry. This week, 12 local residents completed five weeks of training to become certified in the latest building standards and to receive other key industry knowledge that will help advance their careers in energy efficiency, HVAC, or weatherization.

Solar energy is shining brighter than ever in northern Illinois as ComEd today announced that it has interconnected more than 1 gigawatt of distributed energy resources (DER) capacity to the ComEd grid, including 57,780 residential rooftop solar systems. The more than 59,000 DER on the ComEd smart grid include 1,582 commercial systems, 118 community solar farms, 23 industrial and two utility scale projects, helping to place Illinois first among Midwestern states based on DER and second for total capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industry Association.

With weather forecasts revealing multiple days of 90°F-plus temperatures this week, ComEd is prepared to deliver safe and reliable electric service to help keep customers cool. The company also offers tips that individuals and families can use to manage energy use this week, and throughout the season.

In anticipation of significant weather coming to northern Illinois on Thursday evening, ComEd is preparing for potential power outages as it gets equipment and additional crews in place. The current forecast calls for hail and strong winds with gusts up to 75 miles per hour.

ComEd today joined Compass Datacenters, the Village of Hoffman Estates and area leaders to formally launch one of the largest-ever Illinois data center projects. The new data center campus will be located at the former Sears Headquarters campus, which closed in 2021, transforming the space with a new data center campus projected to bring $10 billion of investment into the area in the coming years.

With meteorologists forecasting that summer temperatures in Illinois and nationwide could be the hottest on record, ComEd reminds customers of options available to help pay electric bills before summer usage increases.

ComEd and HIRE360 today recognized a new class of graduates of the Take Charge: EV Pre-Apprenticeship program, a program launched last year to prepare local residents for careers supporting the fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) industry in Illinois. A diverse class of 16 graduates from across the Chicagoland area has completed the eight-week training program, preparing them to meet entry-level trades roles at ComEd and at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 134.

To help increase business opportunities for local, diverse service providers and entrepreneurs across northern Illinois, ComEd today announced the launch of the Market Development Initiative (MDI). This initiative is designed to provide individuals – both new to and experienced in the energy-efficiency industry – with skills and tools that can help them compete for job opportunities in this fast-growing sector. The result is more opportunities for families and businesses to take advantage of energy-efficiency offerings that can save them money and energy.

ComEd today joined leaders from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the City of Chicago and the community of Bronzeville to mark the completion of the Bronzeville Community Microgrid (BCM) – one of the nation’s first neighborhood scale community microgrids. The new technology was ceremonially switched on at the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA’s) Dearborn Homes property, which supports the project with energy generated by rooftop and ground-mounted solar systems. The BCM was funded, in part, through DOE grants.

Despite continued challenges facing the electric grid, including more severe weather as a result of climate change and increased demand from electric vehicles (EVs) and other electrified technologies, ComEd in the four months of 2024 delivered improved reliability as compared to the same period in 2023. Customers saw a 13% reduction in the number of power outages and a 72% reduction in outage duration.

ComEd today announced that hundreds of thousands of customers have saved a total of $9 billion on their energy bills through the company’s Energy Efficiency program. The program, which launched in 2008 and is now one of the largest in the nation, also received an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year—Sustained Excellence Award, the highest level of recognition from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for the 12th year in a row.

As part of its continued commitment to accelerate the electrification of transportation, ComEd today announced the addition of two new, all-electric bucket trucks to its fleet. The addition of new, zero-emissions vehicles is part of a ComEd initiative to transition its fleet vehicles powered by internal combustion engines to the use of fully-electric, biodiesel and clean powered vehicles supporting its work across northern Illinois.

ComEd today joined workforce partners the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago and Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin and Metropolitan Chicago in announcing the return of the CONSTRUCT Infrastructure Youth Academy, a paid summer career exposure program for high school students interested in careers in the construction and energy fields. Just in time for youth making their summer plans, the CONSTRUCT Youth Academy is back for its second year, with new locations added across the Chicagoland area, and classes set to begin in both June and July. Interested students are encouraged to apply through YMCA or Goodwill now through May 31.

In line with its mission to advance the equitable adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) throughout northern Illinois, ComEd today joined the Illinois College of Optometry (ICO) and members of the Bronzeville community to commission the latest EV charging station as part of a first of its kind U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) pilot launched on the city’s South Side to boost EV charging access for communities with limited access.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker today joined ComEd to present G&W Electric of Bolingbrook, Ill., with a record high Distributed Generation (DG) Rebate of $2.6 million for the construction of a massive solar-plus-storage project at its global headquarters and manufacturing center southwest of Chicago. Created by the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2017 and expanded by the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in 2021, ComEd’s DG Rebate program has awarded $130 million in rebates since inception. It is available to commercial, industrial, and residential customers that install an eligible distributed electric renewable generation system. Distributed generation refers to a variety of technologies that generate electricity at or near where it will be used.

ComEd, in collaboration with the Chicago Park District is thrilled to announce the return of the Switch on Summer celebration for its tenth consecutive year. The public is invited to Chicago’s Grant Park to witness the switching on of Buckingham Fountain to mark the unofficial start of the summer season, alongside WGN-TV’s beloved retired Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling who returns as master of ceremonies.

Community, corporate and workforce partners joined ComEd today for a graduation ceremony to celebrate 78 new graduates of two ComEd job training programs, the CONSTRUCT Infrastructure Academy and Craft Academy. These programs are designed to prepare local residents for entry-level trades roles to create a skilled and diverse pipeline of talent to support the clean energy transition in Illinois.

ComEd today announced the expansion of its 345,000-volt (345 kV) Elmhurst transmission substation, a critical infrastructure investment that will prepare the region for future power needs and increase resiliency of the transmission system. Construction is now underway, with the project expected to be complete by December 2025. Investments to expand the substation will support continued dependability for existing customers and will allow for future capacity upgrades to be made to foster continued economic and business growth for the region.

ComEd and HIRE360, a nonprofit that connects underserved minority businesses and communities to jobs in the building trades across the region, today announced the return of Take Charge: EV Charging Pre-Apprenticeship program. Piloted last year, the program was designed to prepare area residents with the skills training for construction trades roles supporting the growing electric vehicle (EV) industry in Illinois. Applications are being accepted now through March 29 at HIRE360Chicago.com/ComEd.

To help individuals and families gain access to critical support services, including utility bill assistance, ComEd today joined a community resource fair organized by the Village of University Park, the Will County Department of Health, Crete-Monee School District 201U and other community organizations to bring much-needed services directly to those who need it most.

As directed by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), ComEd today submitted to the ICC a refiled multi-year grid plan that will increase access to the benefits of clean and renewable energy in alignment with the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). In December of 2023, the ICC rejected ComEd’s original multi-year grid plan, requiring ComEd to file a revised grid plan in 90 days, and asking the company for a plan that includes additional focus on affordability, cost effectiveness and benefits to equity investment eligible communities (EIECs).

ComEd yesterday presented a proposal to the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) outlining a new Low-Income Discount (LID) program to help income-eligible customers manage their energy bills. The proposed program would enable qualifying customers to receive a percentage-based discount on their monthly electric bill determined by income level. Those with household incomes less than or equal to 50% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) will receive the greatest discount. However, customers with household incomes up to 300% of the FPL will be still eligible for a discount. ComEd hopes to begin providing discount credits in 2025, pending final approval from the Commission.

Following the honor of being named the nation’s most reliable utility in 2023, ComEd today announced that it has been recognized by Chartwell, a utility-focused research organization, with three awards for its outstanding outage management in 2023. The awards include: Gold in Emergency Management for ComEd’s Operation Power Play event, Gold in Outage Operations for ComEd’s Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) program, and Bronze in Outage Operations for ComEd’s new Area Restoration Management Team program. The Chartwell Outage Best Practices Awards recognize excellence among electric and gas utilities in the areas of Outage Operations and Outage Communications.

The Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) today named ComEd one of just six electric utilities in the U.S. and Canada to receive its 2024 Best Practices Awards. The SECC recognized ComEd with its Consumer Education Award for launching a series of Powering Lives Resource Fairs last year that helped connect thousands of low-income customers to bill-assistance, energy-management programs, health screenings, job training and other support options.

This week, ComEd plans to launch a large-scale initiative to update its existing customer information system, which will allow ComEd to better support its more than 4 million residential and business customers, while improving the way customers interact with their energy company.

As part of a larger investment to accelerate an equitable adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in northern Illinois, ComEd is launching two new business and public sector EV rebate programs. New programs will provide a total of $87 million this year to help reduce upfront costs of all-electric commercial and public sector fleet vehicle purchases and incentivize the buildout of more business and public charging across the region.

ComEd today joined union and community leaders to recognize 47 new lineworkers joining the ranks of America’s most reliable electric utility. ComEd’s newest graduates of its overhead apprenticeship program completed industry-aligned training at one of three regional training centers based in Chicago, Rockford, and Joliet, and will play a key role in supporting and maintaining the grid that serves more than 9 million people across northern Illinois.

As part of a larger investment to accelerate an equitable adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in northern Illinois, ComEd today launched a new rebate program to increase access to EV chargers. Through the $5 million EV Charger and Installation Rebate Program, ComEd customers can receive rebates of up to $3,750 to offset the cost of purchasing and installing a Level 2 charger in their home in 2024. Level 2 chargers can charge an EV battery 6 to 8 times faster than charging from a wall outlet, often referred to as a Level 1 charger.

A stronger, more modernized grid is needed to both withstand the challenges of more frequent severe weather due to climate change and to support a cleaner energy future that will bring improved air quality to northern Illinois communities as more solar energy, electric vehicles (EV) and other all-electric technologies are adopted. ComEd today announced that, in 2023, the company delivered a variety of exceptional benefits to the 9 million people it serves, including enhanced reliability, expanded access to clean energy resources and the launch of new programs to support customers in need.

Following two periods of sub-freezing temperatures over the past two weeks, households and businesses across northern Illinois may have had to significantly increase their energy use, which could result in higher-than-expected bills for some customers. To help them navigate the situation, ComEd reminds customers that a variety of financial assistance programs are available and urges customers to contact the energy company immediately if they face difficulty paying their electric bills.

After significant snowstorms, which dropped 6 – 8 inches of wet, heavy snow, and recorded wind gusts of 55 MPH, moved through northern Illinois Friday morning, ComEd crews have restored power to more than 152,500 customers, approximately 99 percent of the 153,500 customers impacted by the storm. The hardest hit areas were Chicago and the northern areas of Illinois.

ComEd was recognized by The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), a national association that represents all American investor-owned electric companies, with two awards for its outstanding emergency recovery and assistance efforts in 2023: The Emergency Assistance Award, recognizing ComEd’s assistance efforts restoring service to homes and businesses in the Midwest following the June 2023 derecho, a widespread, fast-moving collection of thunderstorms with destructive winds, and the Emergency Recovery Award, recognizing ComEd for its exemplary recovery efforts in response to severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in Illinois last July.

The Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA) announced ComEd is being honored with dual Inspiring Efficiency Awards. The awards recognize innovative programs that help income-eligible customers and businesses in low-income communities across northern Illinois take advantage of energy-efficiency and electrification offerings that can help them manage energy bills and support the environment.

To support the development of more energy-efficient, affordable-housing units across northern Illinois, while improving the comfort of the residents who reside there, ComEd has provided more than $8 million in incentives via 57 projects, or approximately 3,300 affordable-housing units since 2017.