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Utility Real Time Pricing
Residential real time pricing programs are an electric supply rate option offered by Ameren Illinois and ComEd in which customers pay electricity supply rates that vary by the hour. Like the utilities' fixed-priced electric supply rate reflected in the Price to Compare table, utilities also charge residential real-time pricing customers for the costs of purchasing the electric supply without any mark-up or profit. Unlike the utilities' fixed-priced electric supply rate, the utilities' charge residential real-time pricing customers for the electricity they consume each hour based on the corresponding wholesale hourly market price of electricity.
With Ameren's residential real-time pricing program, hourly prices for the next day are set the night before and can be communicated to customers so they can determine the best time of day to use major appliances. With ComEd's residential real-time pricing program, prices are based on the actual real-time hourly market price of electricity during the day and customers are notified when real-time prices are high or are expected to be high so they can respond in real-time and shift the use of major appliances to lower priced hours. While savings are not guaranteed, customers can manage electricity costs under real time pricing by shifting use of electricity from hours when prices are higher to hours when prices are lower. To participate in a residential real-time pricing program, customers without a smart meter must have a meter installed that is capable of recording hourly usage.
To compare residential real-time pricing rates to alternative retail electric suppliers (ARES) offers, customers should compute their average real-time hourly price (each month the average real-time price is equal to the total of the Electric Supply section of the bill divided by the monthly kWh) rather than using the utility Price to Compare.
To learn more about the residential real time pricing programs, click the applicable link below: