Chicago Business News, Analysis & Articles | ComEd proposes condo association relief | Crain's
ComEd wants to help? Sounds like that old joke about the scariest words in the English language being "I'm from the federal government and I'm here to help you." Read closely and you can see the proposal is that ComEd will satisfy itself with a 24% increase in condo rates if the state legislature agrees not to pass a law to roll back the increase to last year's rates.

Commonwealth Edison Co. told state lawmakers Thursday that it wants to help condominium associations socked with higher-than-expected electric bills since the utility’s rate hike went into effect this year. At a hearing in Chicago before the Illinois House Electric Utility Oversight Committee, ComEd President J. Barry Mitchell laid out a $4.5-million plan that would bring increases for about 850 condo buildings, mainly in Chicago, in line with the 24% average hike being paid by most Chicago-area households. The proposal is part of a funding package being negotiated by Senate Democrats and ComEd, its parent Exelon Corp. and Downstate utility Ameren Corp. to aid those hardest-hit by this year’s electric rate hikes. The condo aid won’t be available if there’s no overarching deal with lawmakers, a ComEd spokeswoman says. A deal would be aimed at heading off legislation to roll rates back to last year’s levels and freeze them there for at least a year.