Tdworld 18059 Cold Temp
Tdworld 18059 Cold Temp
Tdworld 18059 Cold Temp
Tdworld 18059 Cold Temp
Tdworld 18059 Cold Temp

ComEd Smart Grid Upgrades Prevent Outages During Stormy Winter

March 20, 2019
ComEd improves reliability without increasing bill

In a winter that has seemed to last forever, ComEd’s smart grid improvements have ensured that fewer people felt Mother Nature’s effects. New technologies, like distribution automation, or “smart switches,” that reroute power around trouble spots helped avoid more than 280,000 customer interruptions for families and businesses during storms this season.

This winter has been especially challenging, with prolonged periods of sub-zero temperatures and more ice storms than in recent years. During the polar vortex, the Chicago area experienced 52 straight hours of sub-zero temperatures, the fourth-longest stretch on record, and several daily records for cold temperatures. The post-Thanksgiving storm brought a combination of ice, high winds and sustained below-freezing temperatures not seen in the Chicago area in more than 20 years. On an average, more than 80% of the 530,000 ComEd customers who lost power during these winter storms had their service restored within 24 hours.

“When we began our grid modernization work in 2012, we made a promise to bring improved reliability to our customers,” said Joe Dominguez, CEO of ComEd. “We kept that promise, setting reliability records while keeping energy bills flat. Our customers have seen the benefits this winter as we continue to bring more improvements to the system.”

ComEd started its smart grid investments following the passage of the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act by the Illinois General Assembly in 2012. Since then, customers have enjoyed 45% fewer power outages on average. During that time, the company has avoided more than 11 million individual customer interruptions, due in part to smart grid and system improvements. The avoided outages have resulted in US$2.1 billion in societal savings. Additionally, in 2018 customers saw record reliability in the city of Chicago, where the frequency of outages has been reduced by nearly 60% since 2012.

In the last 10 years, the average ComEd residential customer bill has remained steady. In June 2008, the average monthly bill was approximately US$85; in January 2019, the average bill was approximately US$83.

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