Smart Assistance Manager part of effort to keep bills affordable and customers connected to safe, reliable electricity

As challenging economic conditions persist, ComEd recognizes there are customers across northern Illinois in need of assistance with their electric bills. For this reason, ComEd reminds customers of its Smart Assistance Manager (SAM), an easy-to-use, online system that presents customers with a growing range of grants and bill-payment options that can keep them connected to safe and reliable electric service.

Tools like SAM build on ComEd’s work to manage costs, which has contributed to an average monthly customer bill of $93 that is among the lowest in the nation, and residential customer bills that are approximately 20 percent lower than the average for the 10 largest U.S. metropolitan areas.

“ComEd is proud to provide superior service and value to our customers, but we recognize that, while our bills are relatively low, some customers still struggle and need assistance,” said Nichole Owens, vice president of customer channels, ComEd. “That’s why we continually monitor economic conditions and enhance our assistance offerings to customers in need – whether a customer received help in the past or needs assistance for the first time. We created SAM so that customers had a one-stop-shop to easily sort through their options and connect with the solutions that best fit their needs.”

By accessing SAM at ComEd.com/SAM, customers can simply key in a few details about their home, such as energy usage and billing history. SAM then does the work of sorting through the many options available and matches customers with the payment-assistance programs for which they may eligible now, and provides recommendations on energy-efficiency offerings that can save customers money and energy into the future.

Assistance and energy-saving options

By accessing SAM, customers can receive information – and be connected to – support and savings programs such as:

• Financial-assistance programs like the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), ComEd's Supplemental Arrearage Reduction Program (SARP), which is available to ComEd residential customers who qualified to receive energy-assistance benefits from LIHEAP.
• ComEd’s new Your Neighbor Fund, which is funded by donations from ComEd’s 6,000 employees to provide another needed source of grant money to help limited-income families pay their ComEd bill.
• A flexible deferred payment arrangement of up to 12 months for eligible residential customers with a past-due balance. Make a down payment on the amount owed, and the balance is paid through installments in addition to your regular monthly bill.
• Budget billing, which provides a predictable monthly amount due based on your electricity usage from the last 12 months.
• Flexible payment options like extensions on a customer's due date by 21 calendar days.
• High-usage alerts, which enable customers to receive alerts when their usage is trending higher than normal to help manage overall energy use, and energy-management tips to help customers manage energy use to save money now and on future energy bills.
• Community solar allows customers to participate in the benefits of clean solar energy without installing panels on their own homes. Participants subscribe to a solar energy project and earn credits on their monthly utility bills for their portion of the energy produced by the solar project.
• Energy-efficiency offerings, including a free home energy assessment, and other services and incentives that can help reduce energy use now and in the future.

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, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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