ComEd 2007 Annual Report Download - page 20

Exelon at a Glance
comed and peco
Midway through 2007, the political and regulatory environ-
ments in Illinois and Pennsylvania required a change to the
way ComEd and PECO operated. Although a re-organization
left the two companies operating separately, they continue to
learn from each other to improve operations and common
processes within each utility and across the companies in
support of Exelon’s corporate vision.
ComEd
In January 2007, electric rates increased for the first time
since 1997, when residential rates were frozen and
reduced by 20 percent as a result of a state restructuring
law. The rate increase was primarily due to higher energy
costs, which had risen substantially over the past decade.
Six months later, legislation was passed in Illinois that
reflects a settlement agreement between ComEd, Exelon
Generation and other utilities and generators in the state
for a comprehensive, multi-year $1 billion rate-relief package.
ComEd restored power to 630,000 customers in August
following the worst storm in a decade. This series of
storms was the most severe to hit the area since a March
1998 ice storm interrupted service to 865,000 customers.
ComEd crews restored service to 90 percent of affected
customers within 48 hours.
Construction on the West Loop Project - the largest and
most complex project in ComEd’s history - reached the 50
percent completion point in 2007. The 2008 in-service
development, which will feature power lines running
under the Chicago River, is an ambitious effort to improve
reliability by expanding the transmission system in
Chicago’s central business district and transforming it
from a radial to a state-of-the-art network system.
ComEd’s CARE (Customers’ Affordable Reliable Energy)
Discount CFL Bulb Program, which distributed 1 million
CFLs in 2007 to help the U.S. phase out incandescent
bulbs, was the largest privately funded energy efficiency
lighting promotion in the Midwest. This effort will save
about 33 million pounds of carbon dioxide per year that
would have otherwise been emitted by traditional bulbs,
the equivalent annual emissions of about 2,850 cars.
PECO
Throughout much of 2006 and into 2007, PECO’s entire
operation underwent a Pennsylvania Public Utility
Commission (PAPUC) management audit. Independent
auditors conducted hundreds of interviews and reviewed
thousands of pages of documents before issuing a favorable
report in August. The auditors noted that they were
impressed with many of the actions that PECO had under-
taken over the last several years, such as automated meter
reading implementation, outsourcing of fleet vehicle
maintenance, and shifting to supplier-owned, just-in-time
inventory and other efficiencies gained in its purchasing
and materials management. PAPUC regulations require a
comprehensive management audit of utilities every five
to eight years.
In April, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable
Energy Laboratory announced that PECO WIND was once
again one of the nation’s top 10 green power programs
for enrollment.
Another important project implemented in 2007 was an
option that dramatically reduces wait times on the
telephone for customers who need to speak with a
customer service representative.
With the onset of cold weather, PECO’s 480,000 natural gas
customers enjoyed a nearly four percent rate cut in supply
charges. In the meantime, PECO’s rates for natural gas
delivery remained unchanged for the twentieth year in a row.
In 2007, PECO made significant upgrades to its natural gas
delivery system and expanded capacity to serve about
7,000 new customers each year – all without increasing
delivery and service charges, and keeping costs below the
rate of inflation.
By the Numbers
ComEd, with about 5,900 employees, serves approximately
3.8 million electric customers in Chicago and northern
Illinois. PECO and its 2,300 employees serve about 1.6 million
electric customers and approximately 480,000 natural gas
customers in Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania.
In 2007, ComEd and PECO collectively distributed more
than 133,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity to customers.
PECO provided more than 86.5 million cubic feet of natural
gas through approximately 12,000 miles of pipelines.
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