Residential Consumers Are Taking Advantage of Electricity Choice

CHICAGO, Sept. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As a result of the state's long standing policy to bring electricity choice to consumers, more than 1.5 million of ComEd's residential customers are expected to switch to an alternative retail electric supplier (RES) by the end of 2012.

By far the largest driving force behind this growth has been municipal aggregation programs, where municipalities select a supplier on behalf of their residents. Once the municipality selects a RES, each resident has the option to "opt-out" of the program and either select their own supplier or remain with ComEd. To date, more than 930,000 customers from nearly 150 municipalities have switched to a new electricity supplier as a result of this program alone. In addition, approximately 60 municipalities, including the City of Chicago, have municipal aggregation referendums on the November ballots so there is the potential for another 1.2 million customers to switch through this type of aggregation program in the coming year.

"ComEd has long believed that customer choice for electric supply was the right policy to spur innovation, competition and the lowest possible price for power. The emergence of competition in the residential market is exactly what supporters of the law envisioned, and municipal aggregation is just one of many ways in which the competitive market continues to evolve," said Anne Pramaggiore, president and chief executive officer, ComEd.

As a result of industry restructuring, ComEd's primary role today is to distribute electricity. ComEd will continue to deliver power to customers' homes and businesses and maintain the distribution system such as transformers, poles, and wires, regardless of which supplier a customer chooses now or in the future.

The company no longer generates its own electricity and the power plants are now owned and operated by independent power producers. To meet its obligation to be a supplier of electricity, ComEd purchases energy in the competitive wholesale market and passes it through to customers at cost. ComEd is not financially impacted when customers choose to buy their electricity from alternative suppliers because it does not profit on the sale of electricity.

While the electricity market for large commercial and industrial customers has experienced vibrant competition for years, the residential market was slower to develop. This has changed over the last eighteen months. Today, there are more than 40 alternative suppliers in ComEd's territory who are certified to sell energy to residential consumers.

Customers looking to examine their electric supply options should visit www.pluginillinois.com, which is the Illinois Commerce Commission website dedicated to customer choice.

Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation's leading competitive energy provider, with approximately 6.6 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population.

SOURCE ComEd