ComEd today announced that two of its energy efficiency offerings – Home Energy Savings (HES) and Strategic Energy Management (SEM) – were recognized with Leaders of the Pack awards from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a national nonprofit organization focused on advancing energy-efficiency policies that help customers reduce waste while combatting climate change. The two awards were among only 10 utility-funded, energy efficiency programs to receive ACEEE awards this year.
“ComEd is honored to again be recognized nationally for providing creative solutions to help customers with their energy bills while contributing to a clean energy future,” said Melissa Washington, Senior Vice President of Customer Operations and Strategic Initiatives at ComEd. “HES and SEM are among the many offerings available under the award-winning ComEd Energy Efficiency Program that, since 2008, has helped hundreds of thousands of families and businesses cumulatively save more than $9 billion in energy bills, along with more than 82 million net megawatt-hours of electricity.”
In ACEEE’s Low-Income Household category, top honors went to Home Energy Savings, which consists of a free, comprehensive assessment of a home to lower energy costs, along with free and discounted energy-saving products, to improve energy efficiency and enhance the comfort of everyone in it. Special services, like weatherization, are available for qualifying income-eligible customers. In 2023, HES, which is administered in collaboration with Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, Nicor Gas, and implementation contractor, Resource Innovations, helped residential customers save more than 10 gigawatt hours of electricity and 1.5 million therms of gas. Together, these savings helped avoid nearly 33 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the environment.
In its Industrial category, ACEEE recognized Strategic Energy Management, which features a year-long series of workshops and coaching sessions for non-residential customers focused on identifying and implementing no- and low-cost operational and behavioral changes that contribute to long-lasting energy savings. In 2023, 57 northern Illinois industrial facilities participated in SEM and, together, saved nearly 30 million kilowatt-hours (kWhs) of electricity. Approximately 44% of these savings were generated by facilities located in disadvantaged communities. Since ComEd launched SEM in collaboration with Nicor and CLEAResult in 2014, more than 100 commercial and industrial customers saved a total of 172 million kWhs of electricity, which helps avoid 57,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.
“These exceptional efficiency programs are leading the way for saving energy, cutting pollution, and lowering energy bills,” said Jasmine Mah, senior research analyst at ACEEE and lead researcher for Leaders of the Pack. “Utilities and third-party program administrators seeking to establish or improve energy efficiency programs can look to this diverse set of leaders as models.”
ACEEE’s awards consisted of a review of 100 utilities nationwide that measured program factors such as ambitious long-term goals, interim metrics to measure progress, effective marketing reaching target audiences, performance evaluation for ensuring effectiveness, and community engagement, especially with historically underserved communities. This year, ACEEE emphasized programs that bolster energy equity, expand electrification and weatherization opportunities, while reducing carbon emissions.
More information about this year’s Leaders of the Pack award can be found on ACEEE’s awards webpage. Northern Illinois residential customers interested in taking advantage of any of the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program offerings can view a full list of services, incentives and rebates at ComEd.com/HomeSavings. Offerings for northern Illinois business customers are available at ComEd.com/BizSavings.
About ComEd
ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ: EXC), a Fortune 200 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 American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a nonprofit research organization, develops policies to reduce energy waste and combat climate change. Its independent analysis advances investments, programs, and behaviors that use energy more effectively and help build an equitable clean energy future. For information, visit ACEEE.org.
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