ComEd’s Innovative Efforts to Support Low-Income Customers Receive North American Industry Award
28 February 2024 - 5:55AM
Business Wire
Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative recognizes
ComEd’s Powering Lives Resource Fairs that connected thousands of
customers to bill assistance and other support programs
The Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) today named ComEd
one of just six electric utilities in the U.S. and Canada to
receive its 2024 Best Practices Awards. The SECC recognized ComEd
with its Consumer Education Award for launching a series of
Powering Lives Resource Fairs last year that helped connect
thousands of low-income customers to bill-assistance,
energy-management programs, health screenings, job training and
other support options.
In 2023, ComEd collaborated with dozens of local community-based
organizations to hold four Powering Lives Resource Fairs, bringing
a wide range of support services directly into the communities that
need them most. As a result, the fairs helped connect over 3,000
customers to support programs, including more than a thousand to
bill assistance and energy-management programs. Based on the
success of last year’s fairs, ComEd plans to again partner with
community organizations to support resource fairs throughout
2024.
ComEd is proud of the collaborative efforts with community
organizations in the development of our first-ever resource fairs,
which helped thousands of customers keep the lights on,” said
Melissa Washington, ComEd's Chief Customer Officer and
Senior Vice President of Customer Operations. “By working
directly with the communities, we learned what specific solutions
would provide the most positive impact on families in these
neighborhoods. And we learned that families don’t just need help
paying bills, they need that help to be easier to access and more
immediate.”
ComEd developed the Resource Fairs to deliver aid into locations
identified with a high density of households at or below 80 percent
of the area median income and high rates of disconnections due to
non-payment. Resource fairs were held in Chicago’s Austin and
Woodlawn neighborhoods, as well as in Ford Heights and Rockford,
Illinois. The innovative effort was informed by a
ComEd-commissioned, first-of-its-kind study designed to better
understand the inequities that have long impacted many of northern
Illinois’ most cherished communities, and identify opportunities to
help families and businesses overcome them.
At the fairs, ComEd highlighted several new customer-support
programs that provided additional bill-assistance grants, direct
help with managing bills and energy use, and tools to help
customers keep current with account balances to enhance their
credit scores. A full list of available bill-assistance options,
along with programs to help customers manage future energy use, are
available through ComEd’s Smart Assistance Manager at
ComEd.com/SAM.
SECC’s Best Practices Awards, now in their seventh year,
recognize leadership from electricity providers in the United
States and Canada in the transition to a smarter, more
consumer-focused energy ecosystem. The awards highlight programs,
technologies and strategies that have proven to deliver significant
benefits for residential and/or small business utility
customers.
“Over the past year, consumers and small businesses have faced a
number of challenges, including high energy costs and inflation,”
said SECC’s President & CEO Nathan
Shannon. “This year’s winners demonstrate how
electricity providers are playing an important role in helping
communities meet these challenges today, while advancing a smarter,
cleaner energy ecosystem for tomorrow. We hope they will pave the
way for other providers to follow.”
This year, ComEd joined a small, distinguished group of
multiple-time recipients of the Best Practices Awards. In 2018,
ComEd received its first Consumer Education Award for its efforts
to help customers understand the benefits of smart thermostats, the
availability of energy efficiency rebates and other ways they can
save money and energy. In 2020, ComEd received a Product Innovation
Award for development of the Bronzeville Community Microgrid that
provides increased sustainability and resilience to families and
businesses in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood.
More information on ComEd’s Consumer Education Award, along with
a list of winners and runners-up for other categories, can be found
in the SECC’s 2024 Best Practices Guide. In addition, the six
winners, including ComEd, will be featured throughout the year in
webinars, case studies and other content at SmartEnergyCC.org.
About ComEd
ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ:
EXC), a Fortune 250 energy company with approximately 10 million
electricity and natural gas customers – the largest number of
customers in the U.S. ComEd powers the lives of more than 4 million
customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's
population. For more information visit ComEd.com, and connect with
the company on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.
About the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC)
The Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization that works to learn the wants and needs of
energy consumers in North America, encourages the collaborative
sharing of best practices in consumer engagement among industry
stakeholders, and educates the public about the benefits of smart
energy and energy technology. To learn more, visit
smartenergycc.org or follow our company page on LinkedIn.
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