Average ComEd bills to rise about $1 per month in January

State regulators on Wednesday blessed a $96 million delivery rate hike for ComEd that will add about a dollar to the average household's monthly electric bill beginning in January, Crain's Chicago Business reported.

The increase is the latest since ComEd won approval of a 2011 law requiring the Illinois Commerce Commission to follow a strict formula that gives the regulators little leeway to challenge utility requests, Crain's said. The so-called smart-grid law, enacted over then-Gov. Pat Quinn's veto, authorized $2.6 billion in power-grid improvements and the installation of smart meters.

Combined with past increases, ComEd will have hiked delivery rates by $830 million since the 2011 law was passed, Crain's reported. That's about an $11 increase in the average household's monthly bill. But overall, electric bills have been relatively steady due to falling energy prices, which combined with the cost of delivery comprise a total electric bill.

But Crain's reports the energy side of the bill is starting to rise, too. Households are now paying about $2 extra per month to subsidize two Illinois nuclear plants owned by ComEd parent Exelon. That's under the Future Energy Jobs Act, signed into law last year by Gov. Bruce Rauner.