ComEd electric customers stung by a recent price hike that led to soaring electric bills are unlikely to see any relief next year.
PJM Interconnection, the multistate electric grid operator that serves Northern Illinois, confirmed Tuesday that power demand continues to be high and the price of electricity is likely going up next year.
Power demand across the country has skyrocketed as big data centers and artificial intelligence operations have created huge demand.
Meanwhile, new sources of renewable energy, including wind and solar power, have been slow to get connected to an electric grid that spans from Northern Illinois to the East Coast. The renewable sources were supposed to take the place of retiring coal plants, which have been shutting down.
ComEd’s rate hikes this summer are directly related to the high demand across the country.
After a recent “auction” to determine what those payments to power companies will be in 2026, it appears that electric customers will not get a break from high bills anytime soon. In fact, signs point to even higher electric bills by the middle of next year.
Electric rates just went up June 1, and most customers didn’t see the increases on their bills until this month.
A ComEd customer who normally pays around $100 a month on average is seeing a spike of almost 11% on upcoming power bills.
Earlier this month, ComEd offered grants to customers who can’t pay their electric bills. That fund attracted tens of thousands of applicants from the utility’s 4 million customers, a company spokeswoman said.
Applicants who can’t pay their electric bills sought $500 grants to help them manage the increases.
“We recognize that rising electricity costs are challenging for families across northern Illinois,” ComEd said in a statement. “The latest PJM auction reflects broader market challenges, like increasing demand and fewer available generation resources.”
PJM was blasted by Gov. JB Pritzker last year after a price-setting auction last summer determined that Northern Illinois customers would be seeing steep rate hikes this year.
The grid operator reformed some of its policies in response to the political backlash.
Citizens Utility Board, a consumer advocacy group, said those reforms didn’t go far enough and more needs to be done to connect wind and solar sources more quickly
The organization said that it “is deeply concerned that ComEd customers will continue to bear painfully high costs for another year, largely because of policy shortcomings from PJM,” according to a statement. “This extended price spike was preventable.”
State lawmakers attempted to address the problem of renewable energy coming online during their legislative session in Springfield earlier this year, but their efforts were beaten back by businesses and their lobbyists.
Big Tech companies Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Facebook parent Meta are in a race to be the dominant player in artificial intelligence, or AI. In some cases, the companies are entering into purchasing agreements for power.