ComEd offerings ranked first in Midwest by national energy-efficiency research organization
CHICAGO (Aug. 30, 2023) – Since 2008, hundreds of thousands of families and businesses across northern Illinois have saved a total of more than $8 billion on their energy bills by participating in the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program.
The award-winning program, which is funded in compliance with state law, is one of the largest in the nation offering residents, businesses and the public sector a variety of options that help them cut back on their energy use, which reduces energy bills and helps the environment.
In addition to saving customers more than $8 billion on their energy bills, the program also helped customers save approximately 76 million megawatt-hours of electricity, which is enough energy to power more than 8.6 million ComEd customers’ homes for one year. The program has also helped reduce from the air nearly 65 billion pounds of carbon emissions that contribute to climate change, which is the equivalent of removing more than 6.3 million cars off the road for one year or planting nearly 35 million acres of trees.
“As ComEd works to provide customers with clean, reliable energy, we’ve also worked over the last decade to control costs and keep rates competitive,” said Erica Borggren, vice president of customer solutions at ComEd. “Part of that effort is through the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program, which enables customers to take control of when and how they use electricity to help them manage costs and lower their electric bills.”
In January, the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA) recognized ComEd’s Multi-Family Energy Savings offering with an Inspiring Efficiency Award. The offering, one of many available through ComEd’s energy-efficiency program, features assessments and free or discounted energy-saving products to help residents and owners of multi-unit dwellings lower their energy use and electric bills. In May, the program also received the highest level of recognition from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year—Sustained Excellence Award.
“Energy efficiency plays a crucial role in meeting our nation’s energy needs,” said Mike Specian, utilities manager at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and lead author of the recently released Utility Energy Efficiency Scorecard, which ranked the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program first among Midwest utility programs and fourth nationally. “It lowers customer energy bills, reduces energy burden, improves in-home comfort, enhances resilience, and improves indoor air quality.”
The scorecard evaluated 53 of the largest U.S. electric utilities on their policy and program efforts related to energy efficiency during 2021. The scorecard also looked at how utilities managed customers at risk of having their electric service disconnected, which can severely damage people’s health and well-being by depriving them of safe living temperatures, refrigeration, and the use of medical equipment, as well as evaluated utilities on how they ensure diverse workforces for their efficiency programs.
How customers can benefit from energy-saving programs
ComEd residential customers interested in taking advantage of any of the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program offerings can view a full list of services, incentives and rebates at ComEd.com/HomeSavings. Offerings for business customers are available at ComEd.com/BizSavings.
For customers who want help getting started, ComEd recommends establishing a free, online account at ComEd.com/MyAccount. Once logged in, customers can compare their current bill with last month’s bill and last year’s bill to learn more about their energy use. They can even view their bill forecast to see an estimate of their upcoming bill, so customers can make changes in energy use to manage costs before their next bill. With an online account, customers can also:
- Click on My Usage and then Tips to find personalized, energy-saving suggestions based on the information provided in their home profile. These tips can help customers find ways to save money and energy, by cost, season, and more.
- Sign up for free bill notifications, such as High-Usage Alerts that send notifications when energy use is trending higher than usual, and Weekly Usage Reports that summarize your daily use so you can spot trends and adjust usage before your next bill arrives.
- Access View My Usage to obtain graphs of existing costs and energy-use patterns. In the Neighbors tab, customers get a relative comparison of energy use from about 100 comparable homes within a certain radius. To increase the accuracy of the comparison, customers can go to My Home Profile to add or change details about your home.