Commonwealth Edison customers will see a rate hike this summer that could increase their electricity bills as much as $10 per cycle, a change that consumer affairs advocates say could make or break marginalized customers.
“[It’s] unfortunate, because the people who really can’t afford it the most are going to be affected,” said Scott Onque, pastor at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church in South Shore. “Marginalized communities, poor communities, Black and brown communities will have to deal with a $10 increase on their bill, or an estimated $10 increase per month on their bill. And it may sound fractional to some, but you know, $10 could make or break a person, as far as paying their bills in some communities.”
Along with his work as a pastor, Onque works as the policy director of Faith in Place, a coalition of people from varying faiths that work to solve issues surrounding environmental justice. Through Faith in Place, Onque works to create transparency and equity in the areas of climate and energy, and recently fielded concerns over price increases announced by utility company ComEd.
ComEd announced that customers would see a price hike starting June 1. This is due to an increase in capacity costs, which is one component within the price for electricity, according to ComEd’s website. For most ComEd customers, capacity costs are wrapped in the price they pay in the supply charge.
The spike will increase the cost from 6.9 cents to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. According to ComEd, the increase will result in roughly $10.60 more in charges per month and will last until the end of May of next year.
This charge doesn’t actually generate cash for ComEd, which is why it is listed in the “electricity supply charge” section of the utility bill. However, the charge has to be on the bill because it is the price ComEd pays for electricity on the wholesale market that they pass directly to customers “with no markup.”
ComEd officials state that the Capacity Charge increase is due to rising supply costs paired with an estimate of the expected energy usage per household.
These specific rates are controlled by the country’s largest regional transmission organization and power grid operator, PJM Interconnection. ComEd is just one company overseen by PJM, the organization that manages wholesale electricity in 13 states, including parts of Illinois and Washington D.C.
Jim Chilsen, communications director with the utility watchdog group Citizens Utility Board (CUB), explained that the payment increase goes directly to power plant companies that comprise PJM’s membership
“These are the big power generators, or power plant companies that sell electricity to ComEd,” Chilsen explained.
Impact on marginalized communities
Onque said the price hike will add more of a burden to his already struggling constituents in South Shore.
“People are already concerned that these price hikes are going to price them out,” he said. “And in our community, we have more people running behind on their bills than other communities because of lack of income. And we’re also very concerned about shut-offs.”
Black people already face higher energy burdens. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), “research has found that low-income, Black, Hispanic, and disadvantaged households all face dramatically higher energy burdens—spending a greater portion of their income on energy bills—than the average household. High energy burdens are correlated with greater risk for respiratory diseases, increased stress and economic hardship, and difficulty in moving out of poverty.”
According to the Credit, Collections and Arrearages Reports dashboard created by the Illinois Commerce Commission, as of April 2025, 104,055 ComEd customers received a disconnection notice. According to the dashboard, the Chicago zip codes in which ComEd customers received the highest disconnection notices as of April 2025 were 60649 in South Shore, where 2,371 people received a disconnect service notice; 1,156 in the 60621 zip code in Englewood; and 1,475 residents received disconnection notices in 60644 in Austin.
How PJM works
In a video breaking down the inner workings of PJM, the advocacy group Consumers for a Better Grid, a campaign of CUB, explained that utilities, power generators and transmission owners dominate the voting membership within PJM. Voting members take part in a capacity auction through PJM, which sets the price consumers pay for energy and takes effect in June of every year.
In a statement about the rising cost, ComEd said the company “was not part of the auction, does not supply capacity, and does not retain any proceeds of the capacity charge payments. ComEd is responsible for the ‘delivery’ portion of bills, which pays for the work ComEd does to maintain and upgrade the system to ensure safe and reliable electric service for all customers.”
The capacity auction’s total cost to consumers jumped from $2.2 billion last year to $14.7 billion in the last capacity auction, reported the publication Utility Dive.
PJM is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The commission’s board meetings are public but members’ votes on the capacity charge and other issues are not public record. According to PJM, as of 2024, there were more than 500 voting members with consumer advocate offices, such as CUB, taking just 14 of the spots.
Clara Summers, Consumers for a Better Grid campaign manager, says creating transparency within PJM is essential as these voting outcomes drastically impact energy consumers.
“You can’t even know how one company or utility voted on a certain issue in many committees until it gets to PJM,” she said. “So there are some serious transparency issues.”
Energy advocates are currently working to get legislation passed in Illinois that would require ComEd to reveal how it votes during stakeholder meetings. “The state can say to its utility, ‘Hey, we want to know how you’re voting on issues that impact our ratepayers at PJM,'” Summers said. “That’s something the state can do.”
At least one other state has already implemented this. Last month, the state of Maryland passed legislation requiring public electric utilities in the state to disclose how they vote in the meetings.
PJM is also in charge of granting access to the electric grid in Illinois. The company reportedly has one of the slowest and most unpredictable timelines with its grid connection process. PJM’s process has delayed clean energy projects and is a mirror of a national problem with grid waitlists that have left “over 1,400 gigawatts of wind and solar power in limbo, enough to allow the United States to achieve 90% clean electricity,” according to a 2024 report from the Chicago Tribune.
“The reason for this spike is poor policy from PJM Interconnection,” Chilsen told The TRiiBE. “They’re not a utility; they’re not a power plant owner. They manage the power grid, and they manage things to set the price for capacity. That same price that went through the roof.”
In an emailed statement to The TRiiBE, PJM said “the suggestion that PJM’s interconnection process is responsible for the current supply/demand imbalance that is driving higher prices is simply a red herring.” The company maintains that it has streamlined their process and that reforms are working, adding that reasons for power plants coming online at slow rates is due to “siting, permitting, and supply chain delays” that are not the fault of the company.
In its emailed statement, PJM said it is not opposed to any legislation that increases transparency, adding that they have hundreds of public board meetings and post-meeting materials on its website.
Currently, the state of Illinois offers consumer protections to help offset supply price hikes like this one. That protection is written into the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which has a provision that gives ComEd customers bill credits during high-priced times, such as this year.
As prices climb this summer, Onque is hopeful that his continued work will have a positive impact on the future of energy and for consumers. Onque is currently part of an effort demanding the passage of the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, which would update Illinois’ energy efficiency policies and require transparency in energy planning.
“We got the increase, now there’s hints of expanding energy usage, data centers coming on board, there’s a quantum project there on the Southeast Side. And how much electricity will they pull?” Onque asked. “We’re really looking at it and keeping our eye on it, and hopefully we can pass an energy bill that helps us with battery storage and helps us with better planning for energy usage, so that the common customer doesn’t have to worry about their bill continually going up.”
This article has been corrected to reflect that capacity charges may not be seen as a separate line item for most ComEd customers, but as a part of the supply portion on monthly ComEd bills.
