The Illinois Commerce Commission has signed off on Commonwealth Edison Co.’s second crack at a multi-year grid plan, teeing up the Exelon Corp. subsidiary to invest about $1.5 billion in accordance with Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which aims for the state’s power sector to be carbon-free by 2045.
Commissioners had turned away ComEd’s grid plan in late 2023, saying it didn’t adequately account for customer affordability or appropriately aim to benefit low-income and environmental justice communities. That led leaders of ComEd—which is the largest of Exelon’s utilities and had a 2023 rate base of $20.3 billion—to pull back on capital spending in 2024 as they prepared a revised grid plan that they filed in March.
ComEd, which serves 4.1 million customers in Northern Illinois, in on pace to spend nearly $2.2 billion in capital this year, down from more than the $2.5 billion President and CEO Gil Quiniones had envisioned in early 2023. That number is projected to grow to more than $2.8 billion in 2025 and to nearly $3.2 billion in both 2026 and 2027—with transmission projects receiving a larger share of capex than previously forecast.
“We are grateful for the collaboration with the ICC and with other stakeholders whose input helps us align more closely with the goals of CEJA while also supporting continued regional economic development,” Quiniones said in a statement after the ICC’s ruling.
Alluding to the need to trim some spending, ComEd’s statement also noted that its revised plan “prioritizes improvements in system reliability to support the growth of renewable energy and continued economic development.” But it said the ICC’s order leaves room for more investments—and the recovery of that spending—if ComEd needs to connect sizable numbers of new businesses to the grid.
The ICC’s ruling will let ComEd’s rate base increase to $17.3 billion in 2027, which amounts to an annualized growth rate from 2023 of a little more than 1.4%. ComEd’s revised rate plan filing had proposed that its rate base grow to $17.8 billion by the end of 2027. Regulators’ decision will result in the average ComEd bill growing by 2.8% starting Jan. 1; growth in 2026 and 2027 is forecasted to be 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively.
Shares of Exelon (Ticker: EXC) dipped in the wake of the ICC’s Dec. 19 ruling but have since more than recovered that ground. They closed trading Dec. 26 at $37.45, valuing the company at $37.6 billion. The shares have gained more than 7% over the past six months.
