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Residential Customers On Competitive Supply At ComEd Paying On Average Nearly 1.4¢/kWh Higher Rates Than Default Service (40% Muni Aggregation)

Non-Aggregation Residential Shopping At ComEd Increases By 175,000 As Aggregations Shrink By 300,000

July 17, 2017

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Copyright 2010-17 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

Residential customers on competitive electric supply at Commonwealth Edison, where opt-out municipal aggregation accounts for 40% of switched residential customers, paid on average nearly 1.5¢/kWh above the default service rate for electricity supply during the 12-month period ending May 31, 2017, according to a report from the Illinois Commerce Commission's Office of Retail Market Development

"Residential RES customers paid about 1.21 cents/kWh more when compared to the ComEd PTC only, and about 1.45 cents/kWh more when taking into account the PEA [purchased electricity adjustment]," on average for the 12-month period ending May 31, 2017, ORMD said

That works out to an aggregate of $12.6 million (including PEA) in higher charges for ComEd residential customers on competitive supply ($10.9 million higher when excluding the PEA)

ORMD made several caveats concerning the rate comparisons, which are noted in full below

At ComEd, 485,074 of the 1,244,899 residential customers on competitive supply, or 39%, are government aggregation customers.

This share is down from 55% last year and 66% two years ago.

The number of residential aggregation customers decreased by almost 300,000 in the last year

"Since the total number of residential ARES customers decreased by about 189,000 during the same period, the number of residential customers on non-aggregation RES [retail electric supplier] service saw a year-over-year increase again. This comes after last year saw a decline in the number of residential customers on non-aggregation RES service for the first time since residential switching began in 2011," ORMD reported

"In May 2016, 651,570 residential customers received service from an ARES outside an aggregation program and a year later, that number is 826,105, an increase of almost 27%," ORMD said

Approximately 35% of ComEd’s residential customers receive service from a retail electric supplier, down from 41% a year ago.

Statewide, in May 2017, 56% of residential ARES customers were part of a government aggregation program, a decline of about 8 percentage points compared to last year.

Statewide, a total of 746 communities have passed an opt-out aggregation referendum to date, adding another four communities since last year. As of June 2017, 135 aggregation communities (nearly 20%) have decided not to continue their aggregation program, up from 114 as of June 2016

The ComEd residential retail supplier market, which has 56 suppliers, is an unconcentrated market per Herfindahl–Hirschman scores

As of May 2017, 52 suppliers at ComEd have less than 5% market share, and 33 suppliers have less than 1% market share (of switched residential customers).

"Given that the universe of residential ARES customers in ComEd’s area was about 1.2 million as of May 2017, this means that 23 different suppliers had at least 12,000 residential customers as of that date," ORMD noted

Only 1 supplier has a market share greater than 15% (with this supplier having about 20% of the market). The share of the three largest suppliers is 42%

Link to ORMD report

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