ComEd Launches First Wave of Smart Meter Installations

CHICAGO, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Today ComEd will begin to install the first wave of the 131,000 smart meters being deployed for its Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) pilot. In the first week, ComEd expects to exchange 7,500 meters in River Forest and Forest Park.

One of the most comprehensive tests of smart meter technology's value to customers in the nation, the one-year AMI, or "smart meter" project will assess how technology can improve service, help customers make more informed decisions about energy use, and contribute to lower energy costs and reduced carbon emissions.

"This is the first step toward a more advanced electricity system that will provide customers with more information, more quickly," said Anne Pramaggiore, president and chief operating officer, ComEd. "By providing daily usage information, ComEd is moving from an electricity delivery business model to a 21st century delivery and service model."

A smart meter is a digital electric meter that collects usage information every 30 minutes and sends that information to ComEd through a secure network. When the pilot is fully implemented in early summer 2010, this new technology will:

• Provide customers with daily usage information, accessible through the Internet, to help monitor their energy use and manage energy costs.
• Enable ComEd to access important account information on demand, so customer service representatives can provide more complete information, more quickly.
• Allow ComEd to begin assessing the potential operational, environmental and other benefits of smart meters for all ComEd customers.
  

From November 2009 and May 2010, residents and businesses in nine towns serviced by ComEd's Maywood operating center including Bellwood, Berwyn, Broadview, Forest Park, Hillside, Maywood, Melrose Park, Oak Park, River Forest and the Humboldt Park area in Chicago will receive the new meters.

These areas were selected because they are representative of the entire ComEd service territory and are a good test bed for technologies that may someday be deployed throughout the ComEd service territory. Five hundred residents in Tinley Park also will receive the new meters, for a smaller test with water meters.

Customers' receiving new meters will receive a notification letter as well as reminder phone call regarding the meter change out. Door-hangers will be posted where possible at the time of the exchange. For more information, Customers can access an informational Web page at www.ComEd.com/smartmeter.

Some customers in the pilot will be selected to test a variety of energy management features and technologies including alternative pricing plans, Web interfaces, in-home displays, home area networks and programmable thermostats. This will allow ComEd to examine the new meters' operational benefits for customers as well as how they respond and use the technology and track any changes in their consumption habits.

The cost of the pilot is approximately $69 million and costs will be shared by all ComEd customers. During 2010, this will increase the average residential customer's bill by less than $5.00 a year.

"The results of this pilot will provide additional information to the Illinois Commerce Commission and other stakeholders as we work together to develop a potential roadmap for statewide Smart Grid deployment," said Pramaggiore. "We are taking a measured approach in order to ensure we are delivering higher levels of reliability and providing customers unprecedented choice and control."

Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), one of the nation's largest electric utilities with approximately 5.4 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population.