Three weeks after launching, the $10 million ComEd customer relief fund has run dry.
ComEd said it has received about 70,000 applications for the one-time grants, which provide up to $500 for residential customers and $1,000 for nonprofit organizations to offset skyrocketing electric bills amid a spike in supply charges and increased demand during the summer heat. The fund is now closed to new applications.
“Due to significant demand, with approximately 70,000 applications received within the first three weeks, ComEd announces it is closing the fund to future applications,” ComEd said in a statement Monday. “ComEd’s administering agencies are currently processing applications, and qualifying customers should receive notification and credits on their bills within the next one to two billing cycles.”
ComEd opened the $10 million relief fund July 7 to help low- to moderate-income customers catch up with rising bills and keep the electricity flowing this summer. Nearly 60,000 customers applied for the one-time grants in the first week, and the fund quickly ran out of money, the utility said.
The utility expects as many as 20,000 customers to receive the grants, which are being administered through Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago and The Salvation Army.
The spike in the wholesale cost of electricity, which ComEd buys at an annual auction and then passes on to its customers, paired with increased energy usage, added $67.28 month-over-month to the average June 30 bill, the utility said.
Some ComEd customers saw a triple-digit increase in their total June bills, the utility said.
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ComEd had warned that the supply portion of the bill would go up about $10.60 per month beginning in June because of last year’s electricity auction. But the projected increase was a 12-month average, and most customers were hit with sticker shock as the summer kicked off under a pavement-buckling heat dome.
Chicago sweltered through the sixth hottest June on record, according to the National Weather Service, and the oppressive heat and humidity have kept air conditioners running overtime in July as well.
The ComEd bill breaks out the supply costs as a separate line item that shows the number of kilowatt-hours used multiplied by the electricity rate. The cost of electricity rose from 5 cents per kilowatt-hour to 8.3 cents per kilowatt-hour beginning in June, driven by a sharp rise in the wholesale cost of electricity purchased at the annual capacity auction last year.
Beyond increased demand from data centers pushing up prices, legislators and consumer groups are pointing fingers at PJM Interconnection, a Pennsylvania-based regional transmission organization, for allegedly dragging its feet in bringing new renewable energy sources online.
PJM Interconnection manages the electricity supply grid for 13 states, including ComEd’s 4.2 million customers in northern Illinois. It holds an annual capacity auction for expected reserve electricity needed during peak demand, and last year those supply prices skyrocketed.
More pain may be coming down the line after wholesale prices at the annual PJM capacity auction jumped up again last week, rising from $269.92 per Megawatt-day last year to a record $329.17 per Megawatt-day, a 22% increase which will set higher supply prices for ComEd and its customers beginning in June 2026.
Last week’s annual auction price could have been even higher, but was limited by a newly implemented price cap agreed to by PJM following a complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filed by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, with support from Gov. JB Pritzker.
In Illinois, the increased supply charge is slightly offset by a provision of the state’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which requires ComEd to issue a credit when energy prices go above a certain level. The 1.7 cent per kilowatt-hour credit shows up as a Carbon-Free Energy Resource Adjustment under the taxes and fees section of the bill.
Pritzker is pushing for new legislation to hold down electricity supply costs, including expanding alternative energy sources that feed into the grid.
Electric utilities and their customers across the country are navigating similar supply cost issues, including Ameren in downstate Illinois, where monthly bills are expected to spike 18% to 20% this summer.
Exelon, the Chicago-based parent of ComEd, is donating a total of $50 million to customer relief funds through its six utility companies, including BGE in Maryland, PECO in Pennsylvania and the $10 million in Illinois. ComEd is the first to close its fund due to “significant demand,” the company said.
While the Illinois relief fund is depleted, ComEd said the grants will provide a “bridge” to next year, when the utility plans to launch a low-income discount program for qualifying customers in January.