CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Since debuting in the summer of 2015, ComEd’s Peak Time Savings (PTS) program has delivered participating customers more than $1.2 million in total bill credits for reducing electricity usage.
The first program of its kind in the Midwest, PTS provides customers with a $1 bill credit for every kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity they reduce during Peak Time Savings Hours – which occur for a few hours between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on three to five different days throughout the summer. The program is open to customers with digital smart meters, which provide access to hourly, daily and month energy usage information.
In its inaugural summer, PTS enrolled more than 50,000 customers, making it one of the most successful new program launches in ComEd history, while disbursing $386,000 in total bill credits. For the 2016 summer season ending Sept. 30, PTS enrolled an additional 100,000 customers and awarded more than $868,000 in total bill credits. These bill credits appear as actual dollars off customers’ ComEd bills.
“Peak Time Savings is another way our smart meter technology is bringing value to our customers,” said Val Jensen, senior vice president of Customer Operations, ComEd. “Smart meters are at the heart of what we believe will become the electricity network of the future. We will continue to use smart meters and smart grid technology as platforms to explore innovative solutions that give customers safer and more reliable electric service, and more information and control over how they manage their electricity costs.”
ComEd’s smart meter program also is contributing to the reduction of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, according to a 2015 study. In conjunction with the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), ComEd has developed a first-of-its kind metric to measure the GHG emission reductions associated with smart meters.
Because smart meters are read remotely, the study included the impact of needing fewer vehicles for manual meter reading. In 2015, this reduction in vehicle use and related fuel consumption reduced GHG emissions by 18 percent in five ComEd regions within the Chicago area compared to previous three-year averages for those regions. This reduction is equivalent to removing from the road 22 passenger vehicles which would have been driven daily for one year. The study also showed that in 2015 the PTS program reduced GHG by 10 percent by comparing the reduced energy loads of a sample of PTS customers with those of similar customers who did not participate in the program.
To date, ComEd has installed more than 2.7 million smart meters in homes and businesses. The company will complete the installation of 4 million smart meters throughout its service territory by the end of 2018.
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation’s leading competitive energy provider with approximately 10 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. For more information visit ComEd.com and connect with the company on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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