|
|
|
|
|
Update On Total Bill Impact Of ComEd's New 8¢ Bypassable Reconciliation Factor
The following story is brought free of charge to readers by VertexOne, the exclusive EDI provider of EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Commonwealth Edison in Illinois on April 17 filed the May 2026 credit for the nonbypassable Rider Carbon-Free Resource Adjustment (CFRA), with such value providing context for the total bill impact of the updated Purchased Electricity Adjustment Factor (PEA) bypassable charge of 8.166 cents per kWh for the May 2026 Monthly Billing Period, which EnergyChoiceMatters.com first reported on yesterday
As EnergyChoiceMatters.com noted in our story yesterday, the CFRA has generally been said to offset the PEA, with ECM specifically reporting as follows on April 16: "The impact of the PEA has generally been said to be offset by ComEd's Rider Carbon-Free Resource Adjustment (CFRA) given the nature of ComEd's hedging and wholesale prices which impact both the PEA and CFRA in generally opposite directions; however, Rider CFRA (which is generally a credit) applies to all customers, while the PEA is only charged to default service customers."
At the time of publication of ECM's story on April 16, ComEd had not yet filed the May 2026 CFRA
ComEd on April 17 filed the May 2026 CFRA, which will be a credit of 6.414 cents per kWh to all distribution customers (a higher credit than the April 2026 CFRA credit of 3.186 cents per kWh).
As such, provided all other rate components remain stable, the net impact, to a customer on non-hourly mass market default service, from the new ~8 cents per kWh PEA charge and the ~6 cents per kWh CFRA credit will be an increase in the cost of the total bill of 1.752 cents per kWh (which is still a relatively large swing for a month which doesn't feature resets of the principal supply or distribution rates of the bill)
However, while the CFRA credit does serve to offset, in part, the PEA, the amelioration doesn't alter the economics between shopping and default service for the month of May, because, as noted, all distribution customers receive the CFRA credit, while only default service customers pay the PEA
In other words, a customer on competitive retail supply in May 2026 will receive a credit of ~6 cents per kWh from the CFRA and will avoid the ~8 cents per kWh PEA charge
In contrast, a non-hourly mass market default service customer will see a net increase of ~1.8 cents per kWh on a total bill basis under the PEA and CFRA updates, versus the prior month's bill
Moreover, regardless of the specific economic disparity between the shopping and non-shopping decision as a result of the updates, the ~8 cents per kWh PEA charge, which is 4 times higher than the highest historic PEA level, indicates a significant under-collection in default service costs, which means that default service rates were not reflecting actual costs to serve customers, further impacting shopping decisions
As noted in ECM's April 16 story, the 0.5 cents per kWh limit on PEA swings ended in 2023 due to changes in hedging and supply procurement at ComEd. In existing language, Plug In Illinois has typically informed customers that, "The future PEA values would be expected to average near zero for the planning year."
Such a significant departure from expectations in the level of the PEA may prompt further consideration of default service rate setting and the PEA
ADVERTISEMENT Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com. Unauthorized copying, retransmission, or republication
prohibited. You are not permitted to copy any work or text of EnergyChoiceMatters.com without the separate and express written consent of EnergyChoiceMatters.com
April 17, 2026
Email This Story
Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
• NEW -- Channel Partner Manager -- Retail Energy
• NEW -- Manager of Sales, Commercial -- Retail Supplier
• NEW -- Commercial Sales Support Specialist -- Retail Supplier
• NEW -- Channel Partner Manager - TX -- Retail Supplier
• NEW / Refreshed 2/24/26 -- Manager, ISO Coordination (electricity), Retail Supplier
|
|
|
|
|