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Report: Residential Customers On Retail Supply Paid 1.3¢/kWh More Than ComEd Supply Charges In Past Year
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Per an annual report from the Illinois Commerce Commission's Office of Retail Market Development, residential customers at Commonwealth Edison in Illinois served by an alternative retail electric supplier (ARES) paid, on an aggregate basis, about 1.34 cents per kWh more than ComEd's bypassable generation rate, including the PEA (reconciliation factor), during the 12-month period ending May 2026
When excluding the PEA, residential customers at ComEd on ARES supply paid about 1.71 cents/kWh more than the Price to Compare during the 12-month period ending May 2026
For the 12-month period ending in May 2026, residential ARES customers at ComEd paid in aggregate $77.5 million more than the bypassable ComEd rate including the PEA, and $98.8 million more when excluding the PEA.
Notably, for the month of May 2026, residential customers at ComEd served by an ARES saved in aggregate $12.2 million versus the bypassable ComEd rate including the PEA (or savings of 3.5 cents per kWh). As first reported by ECM, in May 2026, the PEA was about 8 cents per kWh (the PEA has typically been less than 1 cent per kWh and was not previously higher than 2 cents per kWh for the time period after a 5 mills per kWh cap was removed)
At Ameren, residential ARES customers paid in aggregate about 2.9 cents per kWh more than the Ameren supply charges when
including the PEA, and 2.3
cents/kWh more when compared to the Ameren PTC, excluding the PEA, for the 12-month period ending in May 2026
For the 12-month period ending in May 2026, residential ARES customers at Ameren paid in aggregate $128.5 million more than the bypassable Ameren rate including the PEA, and $101.4 million more when excluding the PEA.
At Ameren, residential shoppers in aggregate saved 2.2 cents per kWh during June 2025, and saved 0.6 cents per kWh during July 2025, including PEA impacts
As is customary, the report included the following observations concerning the rate comparisons:
1. These are total, or aggregate, savings. The savings for almost all individual customers differ from
these averages;
2. These calculations are ex-post calculations and do not take into account how the ComEd default
rates would have been different had more or fewer customers stayed on the utility’s default
supply service;
3. Most of the ARES that serve residential customers have at least one offer that features a
renewable energy or "green" component. The average rate information collected from the ARES
includes the (usually higher) prices associated with those offers; and
4. Not captured in these numbers are rewards and incentives that are not part of the ARES electric
supply rates. For example, several ARES offer one-time gift cards as an incentive to sign up for a
particular offer; other offers contain rewards such as airline miles and other non-rate benefits.
However, those non-rate benefits are difficult to quantify and include in such calculations.
Additionally, Staff would have to make several more assumptions and receive far more
additional detailed data from the ARES community to quantify the non-rate benefits offered by
ARES. Further, several of the rates offered by ARES, particularly the municipal aggregation rates,
are typically insulated from capacity costs.
Concerning shopping activity, at ComEd, residential customers on ARES supply totaled 715,750 as of May 2026 (19% of total delivery customers), down from 724,039 a year ago
At Ameren, residential customers on ARES supply totaled 421,710 as of May 2026 (40% of total delivery customers), down from 452,120 a year ago
Statewide, the market share of residential opt-out municipal aggregation customers decreased from 55% of all residential ARES customers in
May 2025 to 47% as of May 2026
At ComEd, municipal aggregation customers made up 39% of ARES residential customers, steady from a year ago. At Ameren, municipal aggregation customers made up 62% of ARES residential customers, down from 79% a year ago
The ComEd residential market became more concentrated under several metrics
The market share (of switched customers) of the 3 largest residential retail suppliers at ComEd was 59% as of May 2026, versus 56% a year ago
At ComEd, 40 of the 55 retail suppliers with residential customers had a market share of less than 1%
At ComEd, two suppliers have a residential market share above 15% and one ARES has a residential market share between 5% and 15%
On a Herfindahl-Hirschmann [sic] Index (HHI) basis, the ComEd residential market experienced what the report termed a "significant decrease" in
competition, with an HHI value of 2,890 for May 2026, versus 2,453 a year ago. This change was significant enough to shift the HHI designation from
"moderately competitive" to "high concentration".
The Ameren residential market remains highly concentrated with an HHI value of 2,841 (though down significantly versus 3,629 a year ago)
Customer complaints against retail suppliers decreased in the past year
The ICC's Consumer Services Division (CSD) received between 23 and 64 informal
complaints per month for 12 to 23 ARES for the period ending May 2026, which is lower than last year when CSD received 43 to 81
complaints per month for 15 to 27 ARES.
These complaint quantities represent an average of 0.003% of
ARES customers per month.
The report contains no specific legislative or administrative recommendations for changes to the retail electric market.
In collaboration with Staff from the ICC's Office of General Counsel and CSD, Staff of the Office of Retail Market Development continue to evaluate potential changes in statutes
which may require amendments to the rules
ORMD's full report, which include further rate comparison info, competitiveness metrics, and other data, as well as data for the non-residential market, can be accessed here
ADVERTISEMENT Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com. Unauthorized copying, retransmission, or republication
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July 29, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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