Illinois' ComEd to hike electricity delivery charge

Starting in January, electricity customers will pay an extra $5.50 per month on average to have Commonwealth Edison deliver electricity. 

The Illinois Commerce Commission allowed the increase Wednesday following a review of ComEd’s expenses and investments, which it determined had increased by $340 million. Many of those increases are related to the utility’s efforts to modernize the electrical grid, which included adding "smart" devices that can repair outages, as well as hundreds of miles of new cable and pole repair and replacement. 

Electricity customers in ComEd’s territory who have switched to alternative suppliers pay ComEd to deliver electricity over utility lines regardless of who supplies it.  The delivery portion of electric utility bills is about 40 percent of the total bill. 

ComEd said that because energy prices have been on the decline since 2012 the delivery increases should be largely offset by cheaper electricity supply costs.