ComEd cutting back, but no plans to reduce workforce

ComEd said Tuesday it's being forced to weather its own financial storm and plans to reduce costs by roughly $200 million due to a decrease in new construction, fewer than anticipated new customers and more defaults.

The Chicago-based electric utility, which has offices in Oak Brook, plans to save $150 million with cutbacks related to new construction projects and another $50 million related to other operational costs.

"The economic downturn has added more stress on us, like it has on many other companies," said ComEd spokeswoman Alicia Zatkowski.

ComEd said it had a 50-percent drop over a year ago in new construction and new business expansion. That decline is expected to continue this year.

Zatkowski said the company will not change services to current customers and reliability will not be affected, she said.

In addition, more customers have been unemployed, so they've been unable to pay their bills. As a result, ComEd had about $70 million in defaults in 2008, or nearly twice what was budgeted. Zatkowski said. Also, ComEd said it is working to "redeploy" employees in those affected areas where reductions are taking place. While ComEd is not expecting to do layoffs, it will continue to look for efficiencies with attrition. The company currently has about 6,000 employees, she said.

ComEd also is looking at a delivery rate increase, but no decisions or timeline have been made.