Illinois Retail Market: Over 15% Of Muni Aggregations Discontinue Service; ComEd Residential Market Remains "Moderately Concentrated"

Some 16% of Illinois municipal aggregations have discontinued service, while the Commonwealth Edison residential market remains "moderately concentrated" from a competitive perspective, according to the Illinois Office of Retail Market Development annual report.

As of June 2015, 121 aggregation communities have decided to not continue their aggregation program, ORMD reported. A total of 743 communities have passed an opt-out aggregation referendum to date

The share of residential aggregation customers was 69.6% of all residential competitive supply customers in May 2015. This is down from close to 74% a year earlier.

Broken down by utility area, 505,110 of the 610,214 residential RES customers in Ameren Illinois’ areas, or almost 83%, are government aggregation customers. This represents a significant increase compared to the 74% aggregation share from a year earlier. The number of residential aggregation customers increased by 7,710 in the last year. This is in stark contrast to the number of total residential competitive supply customers, which fell by over 61,000 in the last year.

In ComEd’s service area, 1,400,403 of the 2,126,674 residential competitive supply customers, or 66%, are government aggregation customers. This share is down from about 74% last year. The number of residential aggregation customers decreased by almost 334,000 in the last year. Since the total number of residential competitive supply customers decreased by less than that (about 230,000) in the last year, a significant number of residential customers switched from ComEd’s supply service or an aggregation program to non-aggregation competitive supply service, the report said.

The ComEd residential market, based on Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) values, remains "moderately concentrated," with 61% of the market going to the three largest suppliers in May 2015, compared to 66% in May 2014.

In the residential market, only one supplier has greater than 15% market share at ComEd. Some 45 suppliers have less than 5% market share, while 29 suppliers have less than 1% market share.

"There is significantly less competition for aggregation contracts in the Ameren Illinois markets than there is for aggregation contracts in the ComEd market. Every aggregation contract in the last two sets of Ameren Illinois aggregation communities (March 2014 and November 2014 referendum dates) was won by the same supplier," the report said

The ORMD said that it anticipates a new Commission rulemaking proceeding that, "addresses additional requirements for suppliers marketing to residential and small commercial customers."

Click here for the report