October 2
ComEd’s Hourly Pricing Saves Customers Money, Reduces Peak Demand
This week's top smart energy news, curated by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC).
Member News
ComEd customers participating in its Hourly Pricing program have saved more than $63 million on electricity supply costs to date and helped reduce energy demand during periods of peak electricity use. Thus far, the program has reached a record 70,000 residential customers following its largest single year of growth since launching in 2007, and more than 80% of participants reduced their electricity supply costs compared with ComEd’s standard fixed-price supply rate in 2025.
Electricity demand is climbing faster than it has in decades, driven by electrification, AI data centers, extreme weather and a grid that was never designed for this level of strain. According to the International Energy Agency, global electricity demand grew at nearly twice the pace of total energy demand over the past decade, and could double by 2035, with the need for short-term flexibility growing between two and seven times depending on the region.
School districts nationwide are grappling with record diesel prices this fall as they resume shuttling students back and forth. But filling up isn’t a problem for some of the newest buses in New York City. That’s because these 10 long, yellow vehicles plug into the electric grid. On a clear, sunny morning in mid-September, the gleaming battery-powered buses were parked at a depot in East New York, a residential neighborhood on the outer edges of Brooklyn.
Xcel Energy this week submitted a large-load tariff proposal to the Public Utility Commission of Texas that the company says focuses on protecting existing customers from higher bills. The proposed tariff would establish clear rules to help ensure large electricity users, like data centers, pay for what they need without shifting costs to other residential and business customers.
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Industry News
The U.S. data center boom has entered a new, contradictory phase. On the one hand, both data center construction activity and credible forecasts for near-term capacity additions to the electric grid to serve data centers remain robust. EPRI, for example, said in February that data centers will represent up to 17% of U.S. electricity demand in 2030 and as much as 20% in 2035.
Copper, creator of the first induction stove with a built-in battery, recently launched the next generation of its superefficient electric range: the Charlie 2.0. The plug-and-play appliance is designed to make it easier to ditch fossil-fueled cooking, and the Charlie 2.0 is more powerful than its predecessor, making meals quicker to cook, according to the Berkeley, California-based startup.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority selected eight bulk energy storage and 13 large-scale renewable projects to receive financial support, totaling almost 1.7 GW of clean energy resources expected to be online by the end of 2030. The state’s first bulk energy storage awards went to 950 MW of lithium batteries ranging from four to eight hours in duration. Renewables awards will go to solar, wind and hydroelectric projects totaling 719 MW of capacity.
Three power companies owned by Exelon, Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE), Delmarva Power and Pepco, are seeking regulatory approval to provide some $160 million in tax refund benefits to their customers in Maryland. These refunds reflect the companies’ shared commitment to the Exelon Promise, an initiative launched by the company to provide meaningful customer relief.
