Chicago residents: Last chance to avoid monthly fee Monday 3/31/14.

Factual Questions
1

The following post is copied from reddit by permission. It’s important information that you have to act on (or not act on) by Monday 3/31/14 in order to avoid having to pay a new monthly fee on your electric bill. It explains the issues is a succinct manner that I am never able to match.

The last day for residents of the City of Chicago to opt out of the city’s electric supply agreement with Integrys is Monday March 31, 2014. Feel free to copy, share, and repost.

**What will happen if I don’t opt out?
**
If you are currently an Integrys customer, you will remain an Integrys customer.
If you are currently a ComEd customer, the Electric Supply Services portion of your electric bill will be switched to Integrys.

In either case a new monthly fee, in addition to all the fees currently appearing on your bill, will be added to your bill every month starting in June. The fee will be $22.36 per month for single family homes and $9.06 per month for units in multi-family homes. In addition, you will be charged 5.299 cents per kWh for all electricity used.

What will happen if I do opt out?

If you are currently a ComEd customer, you will remain a ComEd customer.
If you are currently an Integrys customer, the Electric Supply Services portion of your electric bill will be switched to ComEd.

In either case, ComEd will charge you an estimated 7.7 cents per kWh for your electric supply services (the exact rate will be announced in May). There will be no new monthly fees, but all the other fees on your electric bill will remain unchanged.

**Is the proposed Integrys monthly fee of $22.36 or $9.06 a replacement for the ComEd Customer Charge currently on my bill?
**
No. It is a new fee in addition to the ComEd Customer Charge.

Can I benefit from opting out?

If the 7.7 cent rate projection for ComEd is accurate, you will benefit from opting out if your monthly electric usage is less than 931 kWh in a single family home or 377 kWh in a non-single family home.

What happens if I miss the deadline to opt out?

You can call ComEd or another electric supply services supplier to switch any time. But you will probably have to pay one or more monthly fees to Integrys.

What if my current electric supply services supplier is not ComEd or Integrys? What if I live in the suburbs?

None of this applies to you. You will keep your supplier.

How do I opt out?

Go to:
https://accel.integrysenergy.com/secure/ssl/enroll/aggregation/optoutB.aspx?utm_medium=Chicago

2

I thought you could opt out at any time. That’s what it seems to say on the City of Chicago website, and the letters we’ve been getting. However, you will automatically be switched to them if you don’t opt out now.

I still can’t figure out whether it’s a good deal or not. I guess I’ll look at my next few bills and decide. From what I’ve read, it seems that if you use more than about 1000 kWhs per month, and the price projections are correct, you save with Integrys, considering the fee. Otherwise, ComEd. I’ll have to keep an eye out on the bills.

3

I opted out of this months ago when they first tried to switch me. Do I have to do it all over again?

4

If you opted out last year , you need to opt out again this year.

This will be an annual event unless you switch over to a third party electric supplier (someone other than ComEd or Integrys).

5

You can opt out any time. But if you don’t opt out by Monday, you will probably see the new Integrys charge on your June bill. It takes one or two months for your change of suppliers to take effect.

Look at your past bills. The simple math is that if the 7.7 cent ComEd estimate that the city is using is right, you will be better off opting out if you use less than 377 kWh/month in an apartment or 931 kWh/month in a single family home.

6

Yes, that agrees with the numbers I’ve seen. I’ll have to look at my past bills and see.

7

Oh, yeah, looks like for our single family home, we’re in the 600 kWh range on average. The only time we crested 900 kWh was July and August of 2012.

8

There are numerous other energy suppliers you can choose from. Years ago I changed suppliers through the website Power2Switch, which has since been purchased by www.chooseenergy.com. It was painless. Most plans offered (to me in ZIP 60647) are cheaper than the 7.7c quoted by ComEd/Integrys. Be sure to look at fees or charges that might be associated with different plans.

9

I looked at power2switch, but it has gone downhill since it was bought out.

The “top plans” on the front page really aren’t the best available and they don’t disclose monthly fees unless you click on the fine-print disclosures.

The Illinois Commerce Commission has a better site:
http://pluginillinois.org/OffersBegin.aspx

10

Thanks, that is much nicer!