City of Chicago City Council Rules of Conduct for Public
Meetings, 2023 to 2027.
Pursuant to Rule 58 of the Chicago City Council Rules of
Order and Procedure, the Sergeant at Arms sets forth the
following rules of conduct for members of the public.
These rules shall be in effect at all times that a viewing
gallery or room is open for a meeting of the City Council
or any of its committees. All individuals and their
belongings are subject to search at entry or upon request.
Individuals must remain seated at all times except,
one, when entering or exiting the gallery.
Two, when providing public comment during the portion of a meeting
set aside for that purpose.
Or three, when asked to rise and be acknowledged by a member
of the City Council.
Profane, threatening, harassing, abusive,
or defamatory behavior or speech, which in the
judgment of the meeting's chair or the Sergeant at Arms may
lead to a breach of the peace or disrupt the orderly conduct
of the meeting, is not permitted. Disruptive or distracting
actions, such as the stomping of feet, waving of arms,
throwing any item, whistling, booing, shouting,
or other loud utterances are not permitted when, in the judgment of the
meeting's chair or the Sergeant at Arms, such actions are
disrupting or impeding the orderly conduct of the meeting.
Any item that poses a potential safety hazards, as determined by the
Sergeant at Arms, is prohibited in the gallery.
Such items include, but are not limited to, one, any
pointed objects, including knives of any kind.
Two, banners, flyers, or other forms of signage.
Three, food and beverages, including in glass or
metal canisters. Four, backpacks, large
bags, and sealed packages. Clear bags, not tinted in
color, that do not exceed 12 inches by 6 inches by
12 are permitted and subject to search.
And five, firearms, ammunition, fireworks,
laser pointers, stun guns, tasers, mace, pepper
spray, and toy weapons. Cell phones and other small
handheld recording devices must be placed in silent mode,
can only be used while seated, and can only be used in
a manner that does not interfere with the ability of other
individuals to view or hear the proceedings.
Individuals or groups failing to adhere to these
rules will be subject to removal from the remainder of the
meeting by the Sergeant at Arms.
City of Chicago City Council Rules of Conduct for Public
Meetings, 2023 to 2027.
Pursuant to Rule 58 of the Chicago City Council Rules of
Order and Procedure, the Sergeant at Arms sets forth the
following rules of conduct for members of the public.
These rules shall be in effect at all times that a viewing
gallery or room is open for a meeting of the City Council
or any of its committees. All individuals and their belongings
are subject to search at entry or upon request.
Individuals must remain seated at all times except,
one, when entering or exiting the gallery.
Two, when providing public comment during the portion of a meeting
set aside for that purpose.
Or three, when asked to rise and be acknowledged by a member
of the City Council.
Profane, threatening, harassing, abusive,
or defamatory behavior or speech, which in the
judgment of the meeting's chair or the Sergeant at Arms may
lead to a breach of the peace or disrupt the orderly conduct
of the meeting, is not permitted. Disruptive or distracting
actions, such as the stomping of feet, waving of arms,
throwing any item, whistling, booing, shouting,
or other loud utterances are not permitted when, in the judgment of the
meeting's chair or the Sergeant at Arms, such actions are
disrupting or impeding the orderly conduct of the meeting.
Any item that poses a potential safety hazards, as determined by the
Sergeant at Arms, is prohibited in the gallery.
Such items include, but are not limited to, one, any
pointed objects, including knives of any kind.
Two, banners, flyers, or other forms of signage.
Three, food and beverages, including in glass or
metal canisters. Four, backpacks, large bags,
and sealed packages. Clear bags, not tinted in color,
that do not exceed 12 inches by 6 inches by 12
are permitted and subject to search.
And five, firearms, ammunition, fireworks,
laser pointers, stun guns, tasers, mace, pepper
spray, and toy weapons.Cell phones and other small
handheld recording devices must be placed in silent mode,
can only be used while seated, and can only be used in a
manner that does not interfere with the ability of other
individuals to view or hear the proceedings.
Individuals or groups failing to adhere to these rules
will be subject to removal from the remainder of the meeting
by the Sergeant at Arms.
City of Chicago City Council Rules of Conduct for Public
Meetings, 2023 to 2027.
Pursuant to Rule 58 of the Chicago City Council Rules of
Order and Procedure, the Sergeant at Arms sets forth the
following rules of conduct for members of the public.
These rules shall be in effect at all times that a viewing
gallery or room is open for a meeting of the City Council
or any of its committees. All individuals and their
belongings are subject to search at entry or upon request.
Individuals must remain seated at all times except,
one, when entering or exiting the gallery.
Two, when providing public comment during the portion of a meeting
set aside for that purpose.
Or three, when asked to rise and be acknowledged by a member
of the City Council.
Profane, threatening, harassing, abusive,
or defamatory behavior or speech, which in the judgment
of the meeting's chair or the Sergeant at Arms may lead to a
breach of the peace or disrupt the orderly conduct of the meeting,
is not permitted.
Good morning, everybody. The Committee on Environmental Protection and
Energy will now come to order.
All right. We have two items before the committee today.
An ordinance to increase the permissible height for non-tree native
pollinators and our annual Commonwealth Edison Summer
Preparedness Hearing.
We will begin with a roll call to establish quorum.
Chair Hadden is present. Vice Chair Knudson.
Alder Espada.
Alder Ramirez.
Alder Lopez.
Alder Tabares.
Alder Sigcho-Lopez.
Alder Cruz.
Alder Rodriguez Sanchez.
Alder Conway.
Alder Riley.
Alder Lawson.
Alder Clay.
Alder Martin
and Alder Manaa Hoppenworth.
There being eight members present, we have a quorum.
I don't think we have any virtual alders attending right now.
But we do have a couple of Rule 59 requests,
I'll come back to it as necessary.
Oh, okay. We actually have
one here.
Yeah. Okay. Actually, Alderperson Byron
Sigcho-Lopez has requested remote participation
per Rule 59. Could I have a motion to approve his remote participation?
All right. Alder Lawson-
Thank you, Chairwoman.
So moved.
I'm on the line. Thank you.
Fantastic. Nice to have you with us, Alder Sigcho-Lopez.
All right, so ayes have it. Do we have any
non-members present?
No. Fantastic. Well, at this time, we are going to begin the public
comment period. Public comment is limited to 30 minutes.
Out of respect for everybody's time, each speaker is limited to three minutes.
And we are going to start with Ana-Maria
Sokovic.
Good morning, Chair Hadden, and the members of
committee. My name is Ana-Maria Sokovic.
I'm a South Shore resident, and I'm here because the city is about to
waste $5 million of public money on the Lakefront Project that no one in my
community asked for, that has no kind of scientific basis, that the peer-reviewed
research shows will cause the permanent environmental damage to one of the
Chicago's most vital shared resources.
South Shore is one of the only four Chicago neighborhoods identified by
University of Chicago researchers as being in the highest risk for
urban flooding in the entire city.
Every time it rains hard, basements flood, streets turn into
rivers, and the families fight mold for months.
Yet, despite the documented unresolved crisis, the city is advising a
breakwater project on our lakefront with no assumed
construction start of this fall while our flooding goes unaddressed.
Through multiple FOIA requests to the DCO, PBC, and the
CDOT, I have obtained records that raise serious concerns about this project.
I have prepared the full analysis document, which I can
submit via email. The key findings are these.
The environmental basis for this is a 2020
shoreline assessment written during a high
record lake levels emergency. Lake Michigan is now more than
four feet below that peak. The emergency this project was designed
for around is over. No update in wave modeling, no
coastal engineering analysis, and no environmental review
specific to this project has ever been produced.
The original grand scope describes
revetments and the sheet pile. The community was shown breakwater
concepts at the March 18 meeting. No agency
produced a single record documenting or justifying that scope change.
Private properties between 71st and 75th Street in a corridor that
is 98% Black and represents the last Black lakefront
residential community in America, are named as a project focus
zone in internal documents. Yet both PBC and DCO
claim to have no records on property impact, easements or
acquisition. The urgency of this project is not driven by hazard.
It is driven by the FEMA grant deadline, which is July
18, 2026. The community was never told this.
Peer-reviewed science published in 2022 documents that breakwaters
permanently alter sediment transport, accelerate
erosion on the neighboring shorelines, create dangerous rip
currents, and produce a h-Hypoxic
dead zones in summer and mechanically destroyed lake bottom
habitats. Nature-based alternatives cost two to five times
less. None of that analysis was presented to the community on
March 18th. I'm asking this committee to do four things,
require full public disclosure of all engineering and environmental
analysis supporting this project, ensure that nature-based
alternatives are evaluated on equal footing-
Thank you so much for your comment.
And if you haven't already submitted that in writing, if you want to make
sure that we get the four things you're asking for,
if you want to provide us a copy of that, we can take
that. Oh, thanks, Alder
Lopez.
And
while we're between speakers, I just want to say,
we have a Rule 59 request from Alderwoman Clay for remote
participation. Can I get a motion to allow her
participation remotely?
All right, Alder Lopez so moves. All in favor?
All right, Alderwoman Clay, you with us?
Thanks, Alder Lopez. I'm here, Chair.
All right, we got you. All right, next up public speakers, Taiwan
Sims.
Morning, committee. Good morning.
What's your name?
Well, the speaker previously did speak on great
topics.
However, he was addressing, or the individual was addressing
foundational Black American issues,
and the foundational Black or historically
foundational Black American neighborhood, South Shore.
Just like Roseland, Englewood, Austin.
But it's more than just lead pipes.
It's flooding,
it's divestment, it's disregard,
and it's environmental terrorism happening in these neighborhoods.
But Maria Hadden might know. See, Maria Hadden, I'm from Rogers
Park. And in Rogers Park, I know what a corridor look like built
out. I know what beautification is.
Me and my child, we
made Pratt Beach our home, the place where Sheridan Gorman
was murdered.
However, this individual right here, this woman, Maria Hadden, chose
to run me out of my neighborhood,
have me shot up, pursued by-- And even recently,
when I just went to protest for Sheridan Gorman, I found
myself chasing an individual named Tony up the street because he got a
gun, and I guess he came to do something to me.
But as I said previously,
Maria Hadden, I'm not your enemy. I'm a constituent, 30 years in Rogers
Park.
And East Rogers Park is sorely divested,
sorely disregarded in the far North Side of Chicago in your ward
because it's foundational Black Americans, historically.
And so I'm asking, madam,
for the grants that are given throughout for environmental
services or protection services,
why the Hazel M. Johnson
ordinance stalled, all these things y'all brought into this sanctum.
We sat down, we listened.
But what was it? Because none of it has come to the far South Side of
Chicago.
The $20 million Englewood project stalled, or for whatever it is.
And as this individual talked about the South Shore issue.
But it won't be addressed, and we need proper representation, people that can come
and speak to it directly, who live it, who realize it every day,
who watch children walk through dirt, grime,
broken glass every day as they leave school,
every day as they walk through their neighborhoods.
The noise violence, what do y'all call it?
Noise pollution, gunshots, sirens on a
regular basis. How can you live through this?
This is what I've been enduring for the last two years as I've been out of my
community, out of Rogers Park. But I'm not going back to Rogers
Park. I'll be in
Roseland, Englewood, Austin,
trying to advocate for individuals who need real advocation or
trying to see it through.
Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Mr. George Blakemore.
Your environment is very important.
They put all the waste in
what community? The Black community.
And Commonwealth Edison, we need clean
energy. And when they
start convicting people, Mr. Hooker
and the others, it all comes from a
monopoly,
a wicked, rich monopoly.
What's the definition of
a monopoly? One who controls
everything.
One. Now, here in this city council, they
have a monopoly. What is that monopoly?
The Democratic Party.
That's a monopoly,
and that's not healthy.
"But what are they doing, Mr. Blakemore?" 69ing
each other. "Oh, Mr. Blakemore, you using this type of
language? I thought you was an intelligent, articulate
old man."Now, look around and you
see the monopoly have their people here.
But you, the alderlady, where are the
citizens? Your job is to teach,
to preach, and to inform and engage your
constituents. Where are they? These
people over here,
and right here, they are all for representing
a company of finance. But what about
the citizens? Why are they not here to
get this information? You say information on
no vote will be taken.
So you are not doing your job.
And you, you, you, you alderwoman, your job is a public
servant to inform your constituents where they can come
here and get this information. Knowledge is
power. I came here, "Hey, Mr. Blakemore. Hey, Mr.
Blakemore." And I love that attention.
But you should have informed. Look at these empty seats.
You look at them.
Look at them. You are here because you get paid.
Your job. Where are the people? Where are they?
That's why this breeds fraud, abuse, and waste and
corruption.
And especially Black people. All the toxic waste is
always in the Black communities. So it's
something wrong with you. No, it's nothing wrong with you.
It's something wrong with Black people.
On the plantation, something happened to us.
Something bad happened to us and call us a
mental problem.
Thanks, Mr. Blakemore.
I want to recognize Alders Cruz and Tavares for
quorum, and our next speaker is Princess
Shaw.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Princess Shaw.
I'm from the West Side of Chicago. I am here
today in order to speak on an environmental concern that we
have both on the South and the West Sides.
That concern is that we continuously keep having urban flooding.
With that urban flooding, you have people that are
continuously flooding over and over because of these excessive
rainfalls, and you have people three years in living in
homes that actually have mold in them now.
So I implore you as far as anything, if we could start having realistic
conversations like I did with the alderwoman this morning
about how we're going to alleviate these people from losing their homes.
Some of the North Side homes were flooded as well.
And so I implore everyone here
for us to actually be able to have conversations around working with
governmental agencies as well as local community-based
organizations because there is a siloed concern when it comes to
certain things. We are being pretty much pushed out of any and
all conversations when we are the subject matter experts when we're
sitting at these people's homes trying to come up with the best way to help
them maintain their homes that they've had for 20, 30, maybe even 50
years. We have seen people that have become displaced as a result of
this. And so I implore you,
please, let's have a realistic conversation about SBAs, too.
I have seen across social media where we have the small business
associations or administration coming in, and they're having
people to take out second and third loans.
I don't care how low interest those loans are, they are going to cause people to
lose their homes because some of these people actually had these loans as a
result of a previous flood and just got done paying the loan
off. This is not a business. Their home is somewhere is their
sanctuary where they're actually able to live, work, play,
and eat any and every day.
So I implore you guys, again, I'm a part of the West Side Long-Term Recovery
Group. There is a South Side Long-Term Recovery Group.
There's a South Suburban Long-Term Recovery Group, as well as
Cicero and Berwyn. But at the end of the day, when these long-term
recovery groups are coming as subject matter experts to have these
conversations, they are shunned upon.
And there is an ordinance that is out there that states that private sectors
and long-term recovery groups need to be considered as well at the table to be
able to give you real-time data versus the data that you just get from OEMC and
311. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
Our final speaker is Quishanna Harris.
Good morning. My name is Quishanna Harris, and I am the founder of a new
initiative focused on expanding sanitation access.
I am here today because I believe access to hygiene services are a
critical gap in public health and environmental well-being.
I already had the pleasure of speaking with your chairwoman, Maria
Hadden, and I am pleased to introduce myself to the rest of this
committee today.
By integrating this facility into the community, we not only address the
fundamental health need, but we also reduce
environmental impact by promoting hygiene that prevents disease
spread. A clean environment fosters healthier city, which in
turn support a more sustainable future.
I believe that Environments Protection and Energy Committee is a critical role in
this progress, and I ask for your support in prioritizing this project
The sanitation system will provide individuals the access to private shower
stalls, hygiene supplies, and clean clothes if needed.
Although the facility would be just across from the Chicago Police
headquarters, this model blueprint will service all of
Chicagoland neighborhoods in a dignified and safe way, integrating public
health with overall community stability.
By becoming this central intake assessment point where individuals can be
targeted based off just the one-size-fits-all approach,
we direct them to the proper services. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Harris, for your comments.
There being no further speakers timely signed up for public comment,
our public comment period has ended.
I would like to note that we did receive one written public
comment. That's been sent to committee members via email.
Before we move on to our first order of business, I just want to give a
shout-out
for a Happy Mother's Day.
For all of our mothers, I hope you had a Happy Mother's Day.
You're wonderful, especially
first Mother's Day for Alder Ramirez.
So we appreciate
you all keeping us in line.
Thank you.
All right. Our first order of business is our Rule 45 report from March, which was
sent out to the committee. Could I have a motion to approve the Rule 45 report?
All right.
Alderperson Espada so moves. All those in favor of passing that
resolution say aye.
All opposed say nay. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
I want to recognize non-member Chairman Hopkins
in the room today for our first item.
So it's O
2026-0022796,
an amendment of Municipal Code Section
10-32-055 to limit the
height of non-tree plants and native and pollinator gardens to 36
inches. This amendment will increase the permissible height from 10 inches
to 36 inches and is a recommendation of the Native and Pollinator
Garden Registry Advisory Board.
Alderman Hopkins is the lead sponsor on the ordinance and is here today to speak
more to it. We also have Deputy Commissioner Gloria Pittman with the
Department of Streets and Sanitation present to answer any questions from the
department. And with that, I'll turn it over to you, Alderman Hopkins.
Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I do want to stress that this is simply an
amendment to the existing ordinance that created the Native
Pollinator Garden Registry. And it's a very minor
amendment. It only changes one number, but it's important.
It's important to help us accomplish the goal of the Native Garden
Registry, which is to promote plantings that will
benefit pollinators and beneficial insects, particularly a monarch butterfly,
but others as well. The plant's most popular with monarch
butterflies are milkweed, and the ideal height
for milkweed is two to three feet. So having it be limited to
10 inches means you're going to be chopping off the plant before it even has a
chance to bloom, and that makes no sense at all.
So, the 10-inch figure was a legacy figure going back
to the traditional idea that an unkept
lawn would be 10 inches or taller, and that was
sort of the definition for when your neighbor stopped tending to whatever they had
planted, whether it was sod,
flowers, or whatever it was.
So 10 inches means that somebody is letting something
grow and cultivate. Well, that's what we want with the native gardens.
We don't want you out there chopping it every day, and we want the plants to be
healthy and to thrive. Purple coneflower is another one, actually,
that the ideal height is two to three feet, and that's one of the more popular
plants that you often see. In fact, the state of Illinois has a program through
IDOT where they plant purple coneflower by the expressway exits.
If you ever go down to Springfield on 55, look at the
explosion of purple that you'll see at those exit
routes. Those are native Illinois plants that thrive in these
climates, and we want to encourage them, and they're very popular with
pollinators as well. So,
this is a simple but necessary change.
And I know the Department of Streets and San has been very active in
getting the registry up. It's now on their website.
There's guidance, there's help for people who want to do it that don't
necessarily have gardening expertise. This is your chance.
If you have a parkway in front of your home
that you have trouble growing anything in,
now's your chance to put native plants in it that will thrive under a
variety of soil and sunlight conditions, and help beautify
the community. So,
I encourage your support for this amendment, and I will turn it over to
the deputy commissioner for her thoughts.
Deputy Commissioner.
Good morning. Deputy Commissioner Gloria Pittman.
The Department of Streets and Sanitation is in support of this
change.
But we stress the fact that the residents have to be
registered in the registry. And we have very
simple instructions to follow, even a plan
on our website that they can follow, like the alder
mentioned, for those non-gardeners
to be able to participate.
We want to stress that
the legacy of 10 inches was meant for those
unkept places. But the native garden and the
registry requires that the areas be maintained.
And so that,
we feel like going forward, will be a help to the
environment, and we want to see this go.
We are still in the beginning stages, so as we go along,
we have places where the registry is in trial process now.
But we feel like it's going in a positive direction.
So we are in support of this
change.
Thank you, Deputy Commissioner. Are there questions from committee members?
I see Alder Lopez, Alder Lizfaeda, Cruz,
and then Lawson on deck.
Seniority before beauty. Yes.
That
was for you, Bennett.
Good morning, Chairman, and good morning, members of the committee.
Good
morning, Ms. Pittman. Always great to see you.
A couple questions.
When it comes to enforcement, and I think we had this conversation when we
created this.
I understand and appreciate what my
colleague from the Second Ward is trying to do, and I'm glad that we are
recognizing that the plants that we need actually grow taller than 10 inches,
so trying to make that achieve the goal.
But as I'm looking at
the Streets and Sanitation
website,
and I'm trying to
educate myself as you're talking with regards to both the acknowledgment form, the
maintenance plan, and all of those wonderful things that are on
there.
I would be hard-pressed to say that I'm
concerned that this is an English-only
online app process,
and I've routinely had issues with online-only
processes because they oftentimes exclude huge swaths
of our city.
But especially when we think about the monarch butterfly, which was actually
a migratory species from Mexico, if you're trying to
create these
natural spaces in Latino or Spanish-speaking
neighborhoods, it's almost impossible for individuals who
are not English speakers to participate in this program.
So what is the department's plan to make this
more accessible, not only to Spanish-speaking
communities, but to all the communities there?
Alderman, thank you for your question.
As I stated, we are in the inaugural phases of this,
and thank you for suggesting, and we can work
with you and others, on our tech team to make
sure that we provide this information in all languages.
Is the online registry the only way that people can register?
At this current time, there is. However, if you have residents that are
interested,
please direct them to the department, and we can help them
with this effort.
Why are ward offices excluded? If we are, for example,
still working with the department on things like
yard sales, why wouldn't we be included on things like this?
So at the
full board, the
Native Garden Board,
we sought out areas of the city to pilot the
program in. And at the suggestion of
your
council member,
these
wards were selected. But I don't think that excludes you
if you would like to be a part of this, and I hope that your answer is yes,
especially as we try to bridge the language
barrier gap.
Hope that you can be of assistance to us with that.
Well, I think it should be a citywide,
not just
a me issue because I'm complaining, but it should be a citywide issue
because I think we are definitely in the crosshairs of migratory
species that need the help,
and definitely would be happy to help with that.
But I just want to make sure that we are also
cognizant of the fact that in many communities, people try to do something similar
all the time, and we've actually had
one of our colleagues
run afoul with one of his residents who thought they were doing it the right way,
and they weren't.
And then the ward superintendent came,
looked at things that were beyond 10 inches, and started writing tickets.
I just don't want to create confrontation in community-
Mm-hmm
... where you have individuals who say, "Well, I have a natural garden,
so I can have a
three feet of grass in my front lawn, and you
can't do anything about it."
Understood, Alderman. The board is comprised of people
from different areas, different expertise, and so that
they are available to assist us,
as well as our foresters are able to assist us in
identifying and helping the residents through this process.
We definitely don't want to victimize anyone with tickets. That's not the intent.
But the intent is to be inclusive.
No, I appreciate that, but I just know the, as you do, the
real-world application, and I think back to our time together in Englewood, where
we'd be fighting with people who have no idea what this is, and having to deal
with it after the fact is not necessarily something that I want to deal
with. So thank you, Chairman.
Next up, Alder Lizfaeda.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate this ordinance.
Alderman Hopkins, the first daughter of the First Ward, also
thanks you, and she has gotten us on board with planting wildflowers
in the yard.
They grow over 10 inches, I can tell you.
I can also say you don't need to be much of a gardener to get wildflowers to
grow.
Milkweed, this is a public service announcement, trying to grow it in
the spring. Y'all, I learned the hard way.
Got to plant them in cold weather for them to come up in the spring.
This is all very helpful, but I will say
to the
colleague who has left, if your ward office
has a computer in it, you can help people register their
native gardens. The form, as I'm looking at it right now, is
very simple to fill out.
I did want to ask if it is
possible for the committee at some point, not even as
a hearing, to get a briefing on the work of the Native
Garden Advisory Board, because I will admit
I was not currently aware that those appointments had been made and that those
meetings were happening on a regular basis. That's a great encouragement to me.
Yes, I see nodding. That's fantastic.
Great chiefs of staff.
Thank you so much.
Sir, thank you so much for bringing this ordinance forward. I really appreciate it.
For the record, I'll also say yes.
So you don't just have to take the nodding.
Alder Cruz.
Thank you. I also want to say to the Second
Ward alderman, thank you for doing this, as we do have a lot of native plants
in the 30th Ward, and we want to make sure they keep growing, and they're
not scared of Street and Sanitation to come and give
them tickets or do other things. But I do have quick questions for
Street and Sanitation. So just walk me through this.
So if I'm the ward sup, with the registry,
they can see it? Like they will put in an address, and they can see if they belong
to the registries?
Yes, Alderman. The ward superintendents will be provided,
in real time, those residents who have been approved to
have gardens.
And they will do it through the website?
Well, the department maintains the website, but the information will go out
to the ward superintendents from one of our clerks.
They'll send it to them.
And how often? Because if people are adding their names,
what about if they just added it yesterday,
and Street and San is there today, how we would know that
it's accurate in real time?
The ward superintendent can reach out.
So right now, it's not in real time for the ward superintendent,
but they can reach out to us, and they're going to be briefed on this
process as well.
I'm just trying to make sure that we have a plan in place before all this happens,
and that we're not trying to work backwards and trying to get this.
That's part of the trial.
As the alderman said, we have a couple wards that are testing it out right
now. It is live, so anyone can register,
but we focused on a couple wards. Just try to get the kinks out
as such you're talking about.
Okay. So right now, how has it been working?
What is the success rate like?
It went live April 25th.
So right now, no one has registered.
But the site is live.
Okay.
Also, I want to echo with one of my colleagues said regarding
having this accessibility in other languages, like
Spanish, for example. It's something that is going to be needed also in our
community, as trying to educate our communities on native plants as well and
encourage others to take advantage of this.
But that was just my question, making sure that we have a plan, and we
know, again, who is registered, who is not, and how do we move forward.
We do not want to upset any of our neighbors when it comes
to ticketing or other things that might happen in
between.
Understood.
Thank you. So one more question for clarification.
So the
registry just went live on the-
On the 25th of April, you mentioned?
Yes.
So I do have a question for the commissioner.
I know we have talked about this for quite some time,
perhaps two years or so. Just want to understand
why it took so long to do the registry
and just the whole process.
I
don't think the question's-
Would you like this through the chair? Okay.
Thank you.
That's all my questions. Thank you.
To the most beautiful.
Wow.
It's on the record. Thank you, Chair.
He's like three months older than I am too, so that's my little take age over
beauty, right?
So
good morning, Deputy Commissioner Pittman.
I'll get to the topic that you and I usually talk about in a second, but
with it just being up for a couple weeks, I think this is great.
I think our offices have an opportunity to help promote this,
even in real dense wards like mine that don't have a lot of open space or big
parkways. We see this a lot.
If they register with the city, do they get any special type of signage or a
gold star or a green star?
I think I'll allow Alderman Hopkins to answer that question.
Yes, thank you.
We're working on that. The intention is to come up with some type of
insignia that would be part of the registration
process. You would pay a fee. We're looking to possibly bring some
sponsors in so there could be a logo on the signage
discreetly placed in the native garden, which, to Alderman Cruz's point,
would certainly help the Streets and San ward superintendents if they didn't get
the update for the newest gardens that day.
When they go out and see something, they're going to see that it is actually
a native garden under proper registration because it'll have the city
seal on the plaque or something like that.
So, the intention is to do that, but we're not quite there yet.
And also, I do want to acknowledge this process has taken quite a
long time.
I was hoping we could be really up and running rather than still
in a beta test right now. But when we first approached the department
about this, and they were the ones that said, "You want to do this right?
Then tap the brakes. Let us do this thoughtfully, thoroughly,
bring all the staff necessary involved in it." There is a lot
more back office requirements to do this
right than we initially thought. So we said, "Okay, we're going to
work closely with you guys in partnership," and we've been
proceeding
deliberately, and I think that's the right thing to do.
We are now ready to start promoting this.
Walk before you run, but kind of jog a little bit before you run in a
sprint, and that's kind of where we're at right now.
So we really do want to start putting the word out, and we've got someA
couple of the community organizations that do summer festivals,
we're working with them now to promote it as part of their summer festivals.
So we're going to get the word out, and we know people are going to come to us.
There's a certain segment of Chicagoans who are
so ready for this that the minute they hear about it, they're going to
call, and your phones are going to ring, aldermen.
You're going to be the ones to hear from your constituents right away on
this. And we do want to make this as easy as possible and and as
accessible as possible. Oh, and also, I'll just address the
language issue. That is a system-wide problem.
That is an enterprise problem that we have.
Our current enterprise system in Chicago is inadequate
to utilize some of the newer AI translation programs
that are out there. We won't have this issue going in the future
because automated translation into the language of your choice
with the click of a keystroke is now available. It's out there.
It exists. But our current system is so archaic,
it cannot be rolled into the current enterprise-wide system.
And there's a lot of problems with our system beyond that, so that's
something we're going to have to deal with.
But the ultimate solution to that is on the table
for us. We just have to make the necessary changes
to implement that. So keep an eye on that.
That's probably a matter for the technology committee.
Great. I appreciate all that. You anticipated my next question about signage and
notice because I see signs now, and I think there may be a partnership with the
Nature Museum. So people know, "Hey, my neighbor's not just letting it go.
They actually have a plan." And looking at the website, there's a
real plan that's needed here. There's a maintenance plan that's needed here.
There's distance from trees and fire hydrants and the curb, and I
was really, really happy to see that.
But you know what I don't see is anything about rodent control.
And Ms. Pittman and I love to talk about rats.
And
I would love to see that included because that's the concern that always comes up.
Whenever you have overgrowth in a neighborhood like mine, you got businesses on the
corner, is rodent control. And they're not just in the alley.
Sometimes they're in the parkways, they're in the front yards, too.
So I know there are ways to do that naturally, and I would love to have those
resources included, too, moving forward.
You're going to get a lot of feedback on this.
This is probably just the first tranche here.
But I think this is a program that's really, really important for my neighborhood
and others along the lake and others around the city,
and we want to be helpful in promoting it and getting folks to do it the right way.
So thanks for bringing this forward.
Thanks for your work, Chair and Deputy Commissioner.
Thanks, Adam.
Thank you, Alder Lawson. A
comment, actually, Alderman Hopkins, as you mentioned about language.
I just want to lift up,
again, to the need for city
enterprise system updates.
We've had plenty of language translation tools available on websites that
were not AI as well, and I feel like we continue
to struggle with this as different departments have had access to
different things with the
accessibility piece. But also just want to lift up, I think Alder
Ostara's point that
we can help as ward offices. That's one of the things as we're getting
going. I feel like that's one of the core things that we do is
support small gaps, whether they be in technology,
language, access, and other ways, to make sure that
we're filling in those gaps while we work on those longer systemic solutions.
Alder Ostara?
I hate to interrupt your final comments here, but I was reviewing
the registry form.
Is it accurate? Because it said that bird feeders are not
permitted in native gardens. Are bird feeders not
permitted in general in the city of Chicago?
Bird feeders are permitted
on the private property, but not on the public way.
Okay.
Are you opening a new can of worms?
No, I'm a proud owner-
Intended
... of a bird feeder, Chairwoman.
Thank you. I just wanted to clarify. Thank you.
Thank you for that clarifying question. You hear that?
I expect an ordinance submitted in city council on the 20th
permitting bird feeders in the public way, and that can be the
next crusade. I'm just joking.
The pigeons.
So on the language piece, but yes, our offices.
I will say, and this is more contributing to that conversation, Alder
Cruz, around process.
We're a lakefront ward with fairly decent
parkway space and have a lot of constituents in 49 who have been
doing native planting, native gardens for a while.
So I'll say, we do have practice with our ward
superintendent about how we internally handle that.
So I know one of my questions, and this is again through this transition and
rollout period,
we were thinking, our team over here, about even if there's a
notice. So yay,
they're out. This is new. Part of the education we could do is
maybe even having a little flyer. So while the ward superintendents are out and
about, other streets and sanitation employees, but our ward supes,
when they see somebody who has something that looks like it's kind of the native
garden thing, they're not registered. Here's a little note.
Did you know about this program? So there's some education component
that we could probably coordinate with you on a simple thing of
like, "Hey, let's get a two-language little kind
of half-sheet flyer." Even if you guys just design a
thing that we could just print out and give to ward superintendents,
a little QR code for scanning. I think that could help process-wise on
education and also from that ward level piece
could be something that helps.Yeah.
Alderman Hopkins.
Yeah. Thank you. Slightly off topic, but since it was raised and since this
is the environment committee,
we did not want bird feeders, and we did not want bird baths in
native gardens. The truth is we don't want them anywhere, even though they're not
illegal in your backyard. We don't have a problem with
starving birds in Chicago. We don't have a problem with dirty birds in
Chicago. They don't need a feeder, and they don't need a bath.
What they need is safe passage through the flyway.
What they need is to not crash into glass windows and be killed.
If you want to help birds, help us support the Bird-Friendly Construction
Ordinance, which I had the honor of initiating, and I have since handed it off.
Alderwoman Hadden is now taking the lead on this, and we're making great progress,
but we're not done yet. There's more work to be done.
That's what we could do to help birds.
We don't need bird feeders because they're really rodent feeders, to your point
about rats. You put them out there, you're feeding squirrels and you're feeding
rats. You're really not feeding so much birds. Same thing with bird baths.
And today's mosquito-borne illnesses are everywhere, and
a bird bath is a breeding ground for floodwater mosquitoes.
They lay their eggs in there. And you'll even notice someone that has
a birdbath, you'll see a higher concentration of mosquitoes
at dusk in that area. It's because they use the birdbath
to lay their eggs. So don't use bird baths. Don't use bird feeders.
They're not necessary, and they're not allowed in native gardens.
Thank you for my little platform to go on a rant.
Well, bringing it back. Last thing I'll say on this before I...
Oh, yeah. Yes. Okay.
I just want to put a plus one on the rodent control
question and would love to, maybe this is something with interested committee
members with some of the wards where you're
piloting, have been piloting this, would love to talk about it.
We deal with a lot of rodents in the Parkway, completely unrelated to native
plantings, just in general.
I think our evolution of
rat
dynamics in the city have been evolving.
We know we got to hear a great update from Vice Chair Knudsen
about the rat birth control pilot.
So I'll say maybe we can loop that into a broader
conversation, and giving guidance to constituents would be really
helpful. So anything that we're learning from this that we can also loop
into more education that we can do on the Parkways would be
fantastic.
Alder Ramirez.
Yeah. I want to add on to this thought about just educating.
So thank you, Alderman. I want to thank all of the residents throughout the city,
the 12th Ward,
about this educational piece. I'm imagining it like the Don't Litter campaign,
right? So, I know people have mentioned signage, printouts, but
I do know that residents and organizations that have been active on this, I think
you guys should come out in the summer and maybe do regional
seminars where people can sign up and do other things, like give out different
stuff. And so I'd be happy to support however I can get involved for
initiatives in the summer. But I wanted to add on to that.
Thank you.
Yeah.
All right. Having no more questions, could I have a motion to recommend approval
of
02026-0022796?
All right. Alder Ramirez so moves. All those in favor say aye. Aye.
All those opposed say nay. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
I will report this vote as a recommendation to pass at the next city council
meeting on May 20th, 2026.
Thank you.
Thanks, Alder Hopkins, and thank you, Deputy Commissioner.
Thank you.
All right. The next item on today's agenda, or the main event,
right? Main event is ComEd's Summer Preparedness subject matter hearing.
So joining us from ComEd senior leadership team, we've got Dave
Perez, we've got Ajit Apte, we've got Mark Baranek, Melissa
Washington, Jeremy Smith, Andy Plenge, Karla Fry,
Dale Player, Brian Hronowski, Jim Ortega, Max
Leichtman.
I also want to give a special birthday shout-out to Keisha.
So Ms. Keisha Parker, happy birthday.
You're celebrating all
afternoon with us. We appreciate you being here.
So also joining us from the City of Chicago, we have
Commissioner Tovar, Deputy Commissioner Jared Polichecio from the Department
of Environment.
So we've asked city representatives to be in attendance for today's hearing in case
any questions come up during our Q&A session that they're better suited to
answer rather than ComEd, but they will not be giving a formal
presentation today. So that said, all committee members should have received
an email containing the questions that were submitted to ComEd ahead of
today's meeting, as well as a packet from ComEd.
The questions shared with ComEd in advance of today's hearing were based on what we
have historically requested them to prepare for, as well as questions
that have come up in past hearings during the Q&A session.
So if you want to think of it as we have an ever-growing list that we
submit to them every year.
In preparing for today's hearing, we also met with ComEd and asked that they
prepare to speak to issues beyond grid reliability during the
summer months. This includes the changing landscape of utilities
with the advent of AI and the proliferation of data centers,
and how these changes impact customers in terms of reliability and
affordability. Additionally, how proposed state and federal
legislation ties into this. For example, with the state
CRGA law that passed in the fall and the proposed POWER
Act before the General Assembly.
We've also asked them to be prepared to discuss the second grid plan
filed before the Illinois Commerce Commission and the $234 million
reconciliation filing from May 1st.
Finally, we asked them to share how they're balancing these factors while
continuing to invest in our grid and clean energy.
So with that, I'm going to turn it over to our guests from ComEd so they can
formally introduce themselves and share their data and presentation.
Thank you all so much for being here.
David Perez,
Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of
Commonwealth Edison.
Good morning, Chair Hadden, Vice Chair Knutson, and
members of the Committee on Environmental Protection and
Energy.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today,
and for your leadership on issues that are so central
to the lives of Chicago residents.
Your leadership, engagement, and commitment to
Chicago's communities are deeply appreciated.
I come before you not only as a utility executive,
but as a partner who understands that reliable
service, affordability, and trust are
deeply personal issues,
ones that affect every household, every family,
and every neighborhood across our city.
We recognize that the reality many of our
customers are facing today is increasingly
challenging. Rising costs for food, healthcare,
housing, and other essential goods are placing
real pressure on households.
For far too many families, this has meant making some
difficult choices between paying utility bills,
purchasing medication, or putting food on the table.
We do not take this reality lightly.
Over the past several weeks, our leadership, including
Ajit Apte, our Senior Vice President of Customer Operations,
has met directly with multiple Alderpeople and
ward teams to hear firsthand how
affordability pressures are showing up in their
communities.
Those conversations, especially around seniors and
low-income residents, are shaping how we think
about our programs,
planning, and engagement heading into this summer.
ComEd's affordability work focuses on two goals:
keeping costs we can control as low as possible
through efficient operations, and connecting customers
to bill support and energy management tools when
costs rise or circumstances change.
In 2025, in response to rising energy
costs resulting from the recent capacity charge
increase brought on by the 2024
PJM auction, ComEd introduced the
Customer Relief Fund, a one-time $10 million
fund to support low-income residential
customers and nonprofit organizations.
ComEd estimates more than 13,000 customers in
Chicago received a total of nearly
$4.6 million from the fund.
As of January 1st, 2026,
ComEd's Low-Income Discount program,
LID, provides qualifying customers a
percentage-based discount on their monthly electric bills.
ComEd estimates more than one-third of its more than
3.7 million residential customers could
qualify.
So far, more than 250,000
customers across our system have enrolled in the
LID program.
More than 122,000 of those are from
Chicago.
Through Q1 of 2026, customers on
LID have saved $29.8
million.
Year-round, ComEd promotes a suite of
programs that address both immediate bill
concerns and long-term cost reduction.
These include flexible payment arrangements as well as
tools that help customers anticipate and control
usage.
ComEd helps customers reduce consumption through its
award-winning energy efficiency program, which
has saved customers more than $13 billion
since its introduction in 2008.
In addition, ComEd works with community partners through
resource fairs and outreach to connect customers to
available support in one place.
ComEd participated in 57 community
events across Chicago, reaching more than
27,000 customers with information on customer
protection,
scam prevention, energy management, solar energy,
beneficial electrification, and financial assistance
programs.
We are also looking at programs to help small and
medium-sized businesses who are in arrears to
ensure they can continue to be a vital
part of the community.
For ComEd, the best example of how we are being good
financial stewards
is our attention to providing reliable energy.
Chicago's electric system continues to perform at
historically strong levels.
In 2025, the System Average
Interruption Duration Index, SAIDI,
which measures the average outage duration experienced by customers,
reached 28 minutes.
The System Average Interruption Frequency Index,
SAIFI, which measures how often customers experienced
outages, was 0.32Which is the
equivalent of one interruption every three years.
Notably, more than 1.2 million Chicago
customers experienced either no interruptions
or just one interruption across the entire year.
Since ComEd started implementing smart grid improvements in
2012, it has improved overall
reliability by over 75%,
helping customers avoid more than 27 million
customer interruptions and saving more than five
billion in outage related costs.
We are very clear-eyed that reliability is
not static.
That is why we continue to work with the city to explore
additional collaboration opportunities, including
aligning maintenance schedules with city construction to
reduce disruptions, coordinating restoration
priorities during major weather events,
and improving real-time situational awareness
and communications before, during, and
after outages.
In January 2026, ComEd
filed its next multi-year grid plan,
covering 2028 through 2031.
This plan reflects extensive technical
analysis and stakeholder engagement,
including collaboration with the city of
Chicago. The grid plan focuses
on foundational investments, including
modernizing and expanding substation capacity,
replacing aging underground and overhead
infrastructure,
expanding grid automation, and monitoring
capabilities.
It is designed to ensure that the electric system
can continue to safely and reliably
support Chicago's needs
today and in the future.
As demand grows from data centers, transportation
electrification, advanced manufacturing, and
residential electrification, the grid must be
prepared.
Infrastructure investment is what makes that possible.
While ComEd is fundamentally a poles and wires
company, we understand our role extends
far beyond infrastructure.
We are one part of a broader ecosystem of support,
and our impact is greatest when we collaborate.
That is why our continued partnership with the city of
Chicago is so essential.
Summer readiness is not a short-term exercise or a
checklist completed in late spring.
It is the result of year-round planning,
investment, and coordination,
and it is inseparable from our partnership with the city of
Chicago.
The preparation includes infrastructure inspections,
preventive maintenance, predictive risk
analysis, crew training, materials
staging, and emergency response coordination.
Just as importantly, it includes advanced alignment with the
city departments,
aldermanic offices, and others, so that when work
is required or when storms occur,
roles are clear and information flows quickly.
A cornerstone of our partnership is ComEd's embedded
presence within the City Office of Emergency
Management and Communications.
This embedded liaison model, the first of its
kind nationally, allows for real-time
coordination during major events, ensuring that
critical facilities, medical customers, and public
safety priorities are clearly identified and
addressed.
In closing,
ComEd enters the summer season prepared.
That readiness reflects sustained investment,
disciplined planning, data-driven operations,
and most importantly, strong collaboration with the
city of Chicago. We appreciate the committee's
oversight and engagement, and we look forward to
continued dialogue throughout the summer
and beyond.
We are happy to take any questions, and once
again, thank you.
Thank you so much.
For members, I'll now open it up to questions.
Alder Lawson.
I'll take one or two here.
Thank you, Mr. Perez. Appreciate your statement and everyone who's here
with ComEd. We meet pretty regularly, so I don't have a lot of questions, but I
do want to ask, I believe that in years past, we had a breakdown
of the SAIDI and SAIFI and CAIDI by ward or
community area or zip code, and I don't see that in the materials
today. I'm wondering if that's something that could be sent through the chair or if
there was a reason we're not looking at it at that community level anymore.
Mark? Jamie, want to take that?
So in terms of the reliability-
One second.
Oh, sorry.
Jim Ortega, director for Grid Analytics, part of our engineering smart grid.
Thanks, Jim.
So thank you for the question.
Mm-hmm.
In terms of the reliability statistics, we do provide it
for each of the aldermans. So we continue to measure-
Right
... SAIFI, CAIDI, SAIDI by wards. However,
weWe're also looking at it on a more granular basis.
We're now digging into pocket areas of census
blocks. So
I know in the past, we've also provided that type of information.
Right.
And that's something that we could, as a follow-up, provide.
Great. And I think I read in one of the questions that came back that we don't have
any critical
black areas right now, or the areas that...
And I'm not getting the right wording.
It's not in front of me, but-
Targeted wards.
The target. Okay. Sorry, say that again.
Yes. Our underperforming wards.
Right.
Correct, yeah.
So we're all over-performing, every ward.
So yeah, throughout the city of Chicago, all 50 Chicago
wards have performed really well, are below the underperforming
ward threshold. We do work closely with the city,
our partners, Department of Environment, to go
over pocket reliability. So we'll identify circuits and
then provide that type of information.
We're seeing positive results. Last year,
the city of Chicago, we had over a million customers that had zero
outages, which is our best on record.
And so we're continuing being
more granular with the data so that we could
continue to see improvements for those small pocket areas.
Great. I was making a little bit of a joke, but every ward wants to be
over-performing. So let's get that on the record.
I wish our friends on the other box were here to hear that.
I apologize if you addressed this, but I think as we see
cost of everything going up and people tightening their belts, have we seen an
increase in those customers asking for assistance,
either dollar amount or volume?
Ajit Apte, Senior Vice President,
Customer Operations. Alder, thank you for the question.
Yes, we have certainly seen increase in the number of customers asking for
assistance because we have so many great
programs helping our customers, and we
understand.
Mm-hmm.
Yes, it is a tough time for our customers.
We don't take it lightly, for sure.
To answer your question directly, yes. We have seen the increase.
However, because of these programs, the average dollar
outage has come down.
I think that's a positive,
that dollars have come down where they need, but the number
of customers looking for assistance certainly has increased, yes.
If there's a way to quantify that through the Chair is fine.
And it's something we should be looking at.
Most of those programs, some are run through the city.
I know most come from the state. A lot of them come from you guys, and other
partners, and we want to make sure we're standing up all the resources we need for
our neighbors, certainly.
I know we're talking about capacity building in my neighborhood and a couple
others. Just sort of big picture,
how many locations, sort of what are you looking for as far as in the
city to
continue to build the capacity that we know we're going to need going forward?
Good morning. Mark Beranek, Senior Vice President of Technical Services at
ComEd,
and thank you for that question. So in regard to capacity, we
look at it a number of different ways.
We look at, certainly, individual circuits as well as
substation, and then continuing on with the remainder of the grid.
So every year, we perform quite rigorous
analysis of projections of both new business load as well as
what we're seeing just from organic type of growth.
So
whether it be individual businesses or,
again, just general usage because of electrification
or heat pumps, those types of things that come with
new technology and build out of homes.
We have some are critical types
of projects that go on throughout the city for those individual types of
circuits. And in our grid plan, we do have plans for
three new substations in the city of Chicago.
That's Lakeview,
which I know is
very close to your interest.
It's actually Lincoln Park.
We can call it Lakeview if you want.
Van Buren, which is on the south
business district, as well as a West Side substation.
That's in
the next five to seven years, projected.
So those substations are part of our grid plans moving forward.
Great. I think those are the only questions I have.
Look forward to seeing the
responses through the Chair. Thank you, Chair.
Alder Espada.
Thank you so much, Chair.
I'll second the ask related to
ward and community area, Katie and Sadie, safety information.
I've always found that really helpful for both understanding how
well we're doing, because we're doing really well, but also understanding the
disparity and what we can do about that.
I remember fact of the year that I learned last year was actually
the breakdown of what creates
outages and understanding damage to
infrastructure, the role of even helium balloons, which we talked
about last... You're nodding your head because you know, sir.
It was fascinating to learn about.
I'll also say as a point of praise, not personal
praise, but ComEd praise, my household is one of many in Chicago that is now
about
90, 95% electric, and the timely
service that we experienced in the service upgraded that we
needed for the
new appliances in our home,
much, much credit to ComEd and their teams.
The level of responsiveness that I know that you look to provide to all
Chicagoans, so I deeply appreciate it.
I have a couple questions thatI'll say
are related, but marginally tangential.
I remember last year, because it was much more in the news last year, we were
talking about the results of the PGM auction,
the role that that plays
in not so much delivery costs, but the cost of actual
electricity. I think at the time, we were looking at at
least one additional, if not two
PGM auctions during the interim time to where we are
now. I wish I could say I follow it as closely as I should, but I'm wondering
if you can speak to the results of those auctions
and what the impact is on ComEd ratepayers.
Working okay? Okay.
Just a little closer.
Little. There we go. Thank you.
Andy Plenge, vice president of energy strategy and policy.
Thank you for the question. You are right, they have
had-- Typically, those auctions are annual, but they've been having them a little
bit more frequently because they were behind.
What the
upcoming, I guess I'll start with coming up in June, we'll have the results
of one of the most recent capacity auctions impacting
bills. That did not step up nearly as much as the last one.
So we were at about a, kind of in the dollar per megawatt day as the
unit of measure. It went from something like 30 to almost
$270, and that's what we saw impact bills
for this most recent planning year, which runs from June through May.
That is coming to an end, and our next one will start June 1st.
That impact is expected to be about $3.50 per
month on the average residential customer bill.
That will be offset to some degree by the carbon-free
resource adjustment,
which is a dollar offset. So it'll be about $2.50 on
average people will see. That's an estimate and subject to usage, et
cetera. The good news is, for the next several auctions,
so running through mid-2030, the capacity
price effectively is capped. So while people are looking to
those auctions, that will come over the next couple of years.
The results of those are fairly certain in terms of their-- They can only go
up so much. They're capped at $330 a megawatt day.
The price impact I just talked about will be reflective of the cap that we have
hit, and that cap stays static for the next couple of years through
mid-2030. So the impact on bills from that perspective from the
capacity auction is largely known.
Of course, the offset of the carbon-free resource adjustment, that will go
away mid-summer of '27, so there will still be movements in
pricing on customer bills. But from a capacity price perspective,
that speaks to where we are currently with a number of other
initiatives underway at PJM to bring longer term relief.
Now that 330 a megawatt is so significantly higher than it would have
been, let's say, three years ago. Is that an accurate statement?
That is accurate, and it is well above what really just
a couple of years ago was $30. So it's-
30-
Dollars
... 330.
Exactly.
Take a beat to let that sink in.
Okay.
Follow-up question. I know that this is related in part, and
again, I'm kind of treating this as a follow-up on last year's preparedness
hearing, but so be it. I know that part of that was related
to PGM's,
let's say, slowness in bringing some new energy
installations
online, particularly renewable installations, particularly within the
state of Illinois. And again, I'm recognizing quite fully that you all
are not PGM. You may be my best access to information
related to PGM. Do we know if they've sped
up, expedited at all, the connection of
those renewable sites to the larger grid?
Yeah. I'll start and happy to turn to anyone with other perspective.
So you're remembering correctly.
It was essentially the interconnection queue was largely
frozen since 2022, right when we started to see the increase
in demand. Essentially,
they did do a one-time relief valve, probably around the time of this hearing
last year, where they ran a surplus interconnection queue to bring some
forward. But they effectively have worked through the backlog, so that's a
positive. There's about 50 gigawatts now through
interconnection and cleared by PJM that, in theory, can connect.
Now, none of this stuff happens easily for discussion
for reasons we've mentioned. People need financing.
They're having issues with supply chain, et cetera.
So while it's been cleared by PJM, we're not exactly seeing
movement on the developer side. And so that's something we're
monitoring and watching and looking into ways we can help with.
I will note that for the first time, they have
reopened the interconnection queue, which is the first time they've done that
since, as I mentioned, 2022. And they
now have 811 projects worth
220, roughly, gigawatts worth of power that
is now going to be studied by PJM to be interconnected.
So we are seeing progress above and beyond other
items that PJM has made on the interconnection side, but we certainly
have a ways to go before we're seeing the industry getting that
generation all the way across the finish line and bring it onto the grid.
I see other hands. Yes.
Well, no, Jared Peluchiko, first deputy, Department of Environment.
Alderman, I was just going to offer that if you ever have
additional questions about PJM or
positions you'd like us to consider, the city's actually a member
of, the founding member, actually, of a group of cities called the PJM Cities
and Communities Coalition. So we're
more than happy to-... head into that wonky world with
you. It's most of the largest cities in the
PJM
region, including Chicago, Baltimore,
Philadelphia, et cetera.
It's wonky, but it has such a direct
impact on everybody who knows it, on the electric
bills being paid by our residents.
So I really appreciate how seriously the city is taking it.
I really appreciate how seriously ComEd is taking it.
Final question, then I'm needed across the hall.
We're talking here about grid modernization.
We're talking about substations.
We largely talk about that on the residential scale, but as many of us
are learning,
data centers, which are not going away anytime soon,
utilize electricity on scales that are exponentially
larger than residences. I think about, and I'm not sure
if Grays Lake is in ComEd's service area, for example, but
what's being planned there, particularly in the next five years,
I would assume will have some kind of an impact on
the grid that we experience here in Chicago.
I'm very curious how ComEd takes into
account projects of that scale
and the grid needs that are needed in those
locations to ensure long-term reliability here.
I'd even take it closer to home. When we think about the quantum computing site
on the South Side, how do we ensure that electricity
usage and demand there is not negatively impacting
residential ratepayers across the city?
Thank you for your question, Alderman.
Max Lightman, Director of Economic and Workforce Development at ComEd.
The economic development team has a lead role in working with
data centers and other large use customers on their project
requests.
The question you raise is a good one.
I think there are two different aspects I'd like to touch on.
One is reliability and one is cost.
As it relates to reliability,
more and more the larger data centers that are looking for significant scale,
like the one that you referred to, and other large
projects like the Quantum Campus.
With power requests of that size,
we are serving those customers with connections off of our high voltage
system, and so
we are interconnecting to our transmission
lines. We are building dedicated
substations that provide power
specifically to those customers.
There are some data centers that are somewhat smaller in
size that are served off of our distribution circuits.
But in
all of those cases, the request is subject to
significant study by our planning departments to
understand the impact on
all the power flows, high voltage and lower
voltage. And
before we start to do any work to interconnect that customer, we assess what needs
to be done to reinforce the system to ensure reliability
for all customers. As it relates to cost,
which I think you touched on as well,
this is something that ComEd watches very closely.
And
I believe Chair Hadden asked a question
last year about
the impact that data centers and other large use customers might have on cost.
And since we were here last year, ComEd
proposed and got approval at the Illinois Commerce Commission for
significant revisions to our rates and tariffs related to
large use customers. These are designed to do
really two things. First of all, we want to ensure
that all ComEd customers are properly protected in
case those projects don't meet their ultimate
requested demand. And so to do that, we've increased our
deposit levels, and we have also
enhanced our riders that essentially have a
performance-based link to those deposits.
So the customer who's requesting that power provides a
deposit. In some cases, this is tens of millions of dollars.
And if they meet their load, that deposit gets
refunded over time. But if they fall short, then ComEd
keeps a portion of that deposit to essentially hold all other
customers harmless. The other thing that we have done that I
think is even more significant is at the federal level
with transmission service, we are
requiring these large customers to sign what are called transmission security
agreements, which are essentially 10-year contracts
where they guarantee that they will pay their calculated
portion of the transmission service.
And the
customer will post a letter of credit, a financial security with
ComEd. If they meet their revenue, then
we essentially defease that letter of credit.
But if they fall short, then
again, ComEd keeps that portion
financially.
And that, again, assures that the costs for those
large use customers and any shortfall that comes from them aren't spread
across the rest of the customer base.
And in some cases, these
transmission security agreements are hundreds of millions of dollars.
So the second effect that these
provisions put into place is we feel that they significantly
raise the ante for these large use customers.
They discourage speculation that should avoid
feeding demand forecast into our PJM
forecasts, which are influencing capacity prices.
There is a capacity, an energy portion of the bill
which ComEd doesn'tcontrol, we don't profit from.
And we
have seen across all of PJM data centers and other
large use customers putting upward pressure on the bills through the
demand or through the capacity aspect that you just spoke with
Andy about. But we are doing everything that we can, and I think we've been
proactive and as proactive as any other utility in the country about trying to
manage the
impact on transmission and distribution bills for data centers and
large load customers.
I really appreciate it, and I'm sure your Chicago ratepayers appreciate it as well,
at least the residential ones. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chair.
Of course. Want to recognize Alder Martin for purposes of quorum.
And before I dive into questions,
vice chair, any questions from you?
No.
Actually, so I appreciate the follow-up in this
line of questions from Alder Espada.
That was kind of top on my list. So yeah, right this time last year,
we met and those were some considerations.
So it's great to hear
that ComEd is taking that approach, and I appreciate that you guys moved
forward to try and get those additional protections for
yourself and for all the other ratepayers.
Maybe a little bit of follow-up on that,
stepping back a little bit. Is this a move
that you are seeing other utilities take
with regards to these kind of new class of
large use, like large scale customers?
Yeah. Thank you, Chair, for the question.
ComEd is seeing the same thing that many other utilities are seeing, which is
really unprecedented requests from these sorts of large use
customers. We are seeing many of our peer utilities
also looking to implement similar measures.
They take different forms,
in terms of how
every state has a slightly different flavor of utility
regulation. And different utilities are structured differently than ComEd.
Some of them have generation. But essentially, we are seeing many
of
our peer companies moving in a similar direction, which
essentially are
long-term contracts, where they're seeking to ensure
that the large use customers are in it for the
long haul and that they are
committed to paying the portion of their service, whether that's
transmission, distribution, or electric supply, that they are
driving the cost and investment to make.
And so in some cases, even in states where
the utility provides generation too, those
contracts can be even larger in size and amount.
But I think
almost every utility who's facing this
dramatic increase is looking for what the right levels
of
customer protection and certainty are to ensure
that the investments that are being made will
be paid for over time, and that they'll be paid for by the appropriate part of
their customer base.
And Chair, if I may add, Melissa Washington, senior vice
president of Government Regulatory External Affairs.
The state of Illinois also added another tool to help with
the concern about having
adequate resources or adequate energy.
As part of the Clean Reliable Affordable Grid Act, CRAGA,
as we call it,
there was also the passing of the implementation of an integrated
resource plan. And that integrated resource plan provides the
opportunity for the state, Illinois EPA,
Power Agency, along with ICC and all of the stakeholders, to
work collaboratively to try to identify how to solve
for
any resource gaps that are identified.
CRAGA required a study that was issued in December of 2025,
and it was determined that in future years, '29 or
so, you may see some shortfalls. So CRAGA not only
provided the integrated resource plan, which will help kind of identify, as we call
all the above, look for ways to solve it with additional procurement
of clean energy. Also look for ways to
incent and drive for more supply, which is
the part of the bill that we don't control, but try to get more generation
on the grid, and then at the same time,
ensure that
it can be transported through transmission investments.
So that's a good tool. We're working collaboratively right now.
The ICC will submit to the commissioners a plan
to help address it, and they will study it over six months to nine
months. And we'll have a determination of what the plan is going
forward, in addition to battery storage also being
something that was implemented from CRAGA as well.
Thank you both for that. And I'm wondering, especially
for us lay people
and alders,
both with the particular approach for
managing kind of this scale of customer, but also
maybe what you're seeing in the industry.
Are you guys able to-- If there's something you could prepare to share with us,
kind of this model. Even if it's just kind of your thinking.
And I ask that
for the city and our water department.
So as we talk about data centers, AI, the
quantum computing site, the questions that come up
most frequently are around energy, and they're about water.
So they're all about our resources, and obviously, the city is
the utility provider for water services.
And while
our utilities are different, I would love to see
of what you're able to share of kind of the model, the structure that you decided
upon. Right? I know this has gone through ICC, but whatever
you presented that was approved, and just some of maybe the background of the
thinking of how you're managing this class of
customer.One of the things that
comes to mind, we have public commenters speaking about
our flooding
when we talk about our water and the use that we know data centers
have,
and thinking about that forward infrastructure, right?
So
ComEd, other utilities that work in your area,
I do think that we get good information from you about
the whole field. Right? You're thinking about here,
the delivery of energy to Chicagoans, to peoples in your
larger customer base, and obviously we think about that
too. But, I do
think that
we could use some help in some of your thinking, and learn a bit
about the more sophisticated networks, right, as we talk
about our energy supply, and that the City of Chicago needs to start thinking
about our water supply in these more
sophisticated terms. Right?
We've got lots of water. We've got flooding.
We've got people losing their homes. What are we doing with that water?
What are the systems that we could potentially be building and
having large potential users of our water
building those systems for us is just the thing that comes to mind as
I think about what you guys are mentioning.
So I'm putting that out there for our Department of Environment team that's in the
box.
But to say that I would be curious to learn a little bit more
of the logic behind how you're scaling that and what
ICC kind of approved for you on that user level.
So we're happy to kind of summarize in, as
I call it, in plain English
how the structure that we've been talking about today that we believe will lead
us to a path of addressing future
concerns. And then also, Angela and Jared have been
following this as well. There's been various subject matter hearings
around data centers where the data centers talk about what they're doing
as well to conserve water and the design that they've been
implementing. So we can collaborate with them and be conduits
to that as well.
No. Thank you for that.
And then, I want to recognize Alder
Rodriguez-Sanchez for quorum and
Alderman Martin for questions.
Yeah, one question. Good morning, everybody.
I was curious to what extent geothermal technology is on
ComEd's radar and what is either being done or
will need to be done soon to support that.
I understand that the General Assembly, maybe around veto session last year,
passed some enabling legislation.
I believe that the next step is for the ICC to take
action. But I've had some residents flag this as a possibility, maybe not in
the short term, but mid and long term as a way to increasingly
generate electricity, in particular, in a way that has less of a carbon
footprint
than natural gas, oil,
is maybe more stable in terms of the electricity that is generated
relative to wind and solar,
and obviously doesn't have a nuclear waste component.
And I'm curious just what ComEd is planning for and
how quickly you see this being something that comprises more
than a percentage or less of overall electricity generation.
Yes. Thank you. Again, Andy Plenge, Vice President of Strategy and Energy
Policy. Appreciate the question.
This is an element, Melissa spoke to the integrated
resource planning process that they're kicking off.
They've had a couple of workshops.
I suspect you're probably referring perhaps more
on sort of the distributed side, so like a given customer puts in a
geothermal heat loop as opposed to bigger scale.
So the perspective I was going to provide was as part of that
IRP process, they've held a couple of, I think, three workshops at this
point. One of them was around eligible resources.
These were largely thinking kind of big scale.
But we observed and actually filed in our written comments
that we observed they did not include geothermal as sort of a medium to
long-term resource.
Illinois does not quite have the potential that somewhere like Arizona has, where
they just have much
warmer sort of temperature reserves down kind of further
down beneath the earth's surface.
But it is an area that I know the technology's been pretty well established for a
while, and
there's some degree of to what extent are the federal and
other incentives there to sort of help push it over the ledge.
So I'm not sure if anyone from our interconnection team has seen increased
opportunity at the distributed side.
The workshop, as I mentioned, didn't include it at the centralized level,
but they did talk about they'd like to include distributed resources,
which could include any bundle of assets.
I'll be interested to see if they start to think about geothermal as one of those
things they could include as part of their distributed resource bundle to think
about kind of the grid of the future, where they have virtual power plants to
include. So, if there's anyone else on the interconnection side that-
Yeah, I would just add to Andy's comments is that we have not
seen geothermal in our interconnection queues.
However, as part of our grid plan that we're in
the middle of and the one that we had filed in January,
as David had mentioned, for 2029, '30,
'31,
we are looking to support the state's
goals on renewables, which would include anything like that.
Geothermal, battery storage, that might be a thermal
type of battery storage. And so certainly distributed
energy resources don't just mean solar, and we
are anticipating that we will need to go ahead
and have those types of interconnections in the future.
So even though we don't necessarily install it and we don't
necessarily control the ability for customers
to figure out how to economically do that.
We will absolutely support those interconnections, just like we do with solar
today.
Alder, Jared Palachiko again, first deputy at DOE.
Let me just give you quickly two projects that
DOE is supporting that are on the ground that will
hopefully be in ComEd's interconnection queue soon.
One is a project that Blacks in Green and West Woodlawn's been working on
for quite a while that would deploy geothermal at the
community level over several blocks there.
That project's actually fully designed with a whole bunch of partners, and was
supposed to receive a grant from the federal government to
actually deploy it, and that's currently stuck because
of the federal government's grants decisions
over the last two years. But another exciting one that's
even more recent is
CHA, the Trumbull
Park homes on the southeast side. CHA just received a
planning grant from the Illinois Climate Bank.
They're partnering with Elevate Energy, DOE,
technical firms, I forget if it's UIC or
UIUC, but universities on deploying
geothermal for Trumbull Park homes.
There's already significant renovations planned there, and
CHA believes that geothermal could be utilized there.
We're exploring whether the Park District could take advantage of that, maybe
surrounding blocks of residential.
So we're definitely committed to seeing what this
could look like on the ground,
both from a job standpoint, from a climate standpoint,
and hope to see it actually be deployed in that
pilot way over the next few years.
Great. May I ask one follow-up question?
Jared, can you share a little bit more to the extent you know about
how that particular site was selected for geothermal? I'm just curious.
I was aware of Blacks in Green,
their ongoing work over the last several years. I was not aware of that.
Yeah.
My understanding is CHA thought carefully about Trumbull Park homes
because they knew they wanted to test out deploying
geothermal in a CHA facility, and
Trumbull is
ready to go with capital funding for significant
renovations. So they did an initial feasibility analysis
and
determined it was the timing was aligned.
Doesn't mean that there are not other facilities, and that's something that we're
committed to working with sister agencies,
and looking at these kind of anchor institution based models,
not just there, but in other places.
One of the things we're also trying to explore is
braiding that in with where does the gas system still
need pipeline replacement upgrades and
could
deploying geothermal using anchor institutions be a way
to avoid our residents having
to incur the cost of the pipeline replacements in that area.
Do you view federal funding as a prerequisite at this point
for projects to pencil out with geothermal,
or maybe just significant government
subsidy generally, even if it's not coming from the federal government?
I think that this is just my personal opinion, probably certainly in this pilot
phase, yes. As the ComEd folks were alluding to,
geothermal is one of the few things that wasn't spared the wrath of
dismantling the IRA. I think my understanding is there's
some
technical details of being able to still claim that credit,
that I know everyone will be exploring that's working on these
projects. I think, yeah, at the pilot phase, I think there has to be
other support to make it pencil out,
whether it's that tax credit still being available or somebody like the
CHA that's already got capital money
ready to utilize.
Understood. Thank you. That's it.
I think Ajit has something to add.
Yeah. Alder,
we do have energy efficiency programs.
I think one of the best in nation, no questions.
We do provide rebates for ground source heat pump, so
not necessarily generating electricity, but reducing the use of
electricity. So that's already there and it's in our
programs. We can absolutely share the details, but just wanted to call that out
about geothermal, what energy efficiency does for that.
Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Thank you, Chair.
Thank you. Want to recognize Alder Conway for purposes of quorum and Alder
Rodriguez Sanchez for a question.
Hello, everybody. Thank you for being here today.
I have a question, and I am not sure if it's outside of the
scope of today, but I still would like an
answer in some shape or form, even if it's through the chair.
I'm thinking a lot about with the
proliferation of
AI data centers
across the state.
Is there an analysis from ComEd around the
impact that these proliferations of
AI data center is going to have in energy
consumption, price, availability,
and environmental
harms?
Is there anybody ready to answer that question?
And if not, maybe that is something that we can take on at some point.
I'll give them a moment to speak to it.
We did have some good conversation around this.
I would
go as far to say yes, and then I see Melissa's going to tell you
really what that is, though.
Thank you.
Yes, but I think it's in pieces. And the reason I say I think it's in
pieces, when we look at the increasing demand
that we've seen in electricity need,
when we take a look at the impact that that's going to have over a
longer term period, that's been studied by the state of Illinois, and I
think one of the best resources to see how that's going
to impact us is through the seizure report, and we can share
that with you. That was issued in December. So that's kind of all load.
It doesn't just say AI-driven data centers, but
it's all load, which a large amount of it, the growth is coming from
that. So that's one implication, and that implication just
basically means we need more generation here in the state of
Illinois to meet that growing demand.
We need to make sure that the power moves from where it's at to where it needs to
be, which could be transmission investments.
And we need kind of what we call all the above, to make
sure that all the needs are met for customers who we need to serve when
they need to be served.
In terms of
conservation around water and other things, we shared earlier that
there's ongoing conversations that are being held right now
in terms of what are data centers doing to make sure that they
are reducing their consumption, what advancements, what R&D are they
doing. And that shows up in different places, and we were going to share
what we've been able to hear and accumulate from other resources.
But it's an ongoing conversation in Springfield and other places, and we'll share
that through the chair.
Can I ask a follow-up question?
Sure.
Do we have any sort of analysis in
terms, or
would ComEd be ready to
establish a ceiling in terms of
capacity
for the amount of data centers and
energy that we can actually sustain or do in a
sustainable way? And would ComEd
assume a position like that in the
face of all of this growth?
And if I could layer on there, too. One of the things that
they shared, and this gets to Melissa's point, some things I asked them to share
more on. So from last year to this year, last year,
I had asked a question about whether they could consider them even a different
class of customer. Right? Along that lines of thinking of like, "Oh, they're going
to use stuff that's not like even a regular business." And I'm summarizing here.
I know it's not going to use all the technical terms.
But they have done that. And so they
have been able to kind of look at a use
case and get approval for some different guidelines.
So one of the things, which isn't quite what you're saying, and we'll see if they
can come up with this answer, but one of the things they shared with us, too,
is the additional basically security
and funds that they are requiring
customers who want to request all the power, because if they request all
the power,
then they have to go and they have to buy all this supply, right?
They're providing it to us, but it costs everybody more.
And so if those customers, let's say a data center, is requesting,
"Oh, I'm going to need all this energy," right?
And they're making the supplier go through all this work to buy and bring all this
energy, and then if they actually don't pay or use all of that energy,
if they're not providing the money, then that would be all on us, right?
And so one of the things they've been able to kind of plan around for is that
aspect of it, is how to protect the general consumer
from us having to bear the cost of a ton of
energy that will be requested by these data centers, and of course,
the investment and infrastructure that ComEd has to
do. But I think your question's also really interesting is,
is there a ceiling? Right? Based on these projections from the state, based
on what they know, is there a time or a place where
we could say, "Hey, the city, if we in our
footprint in ComEd actually can't accommodate another one of these
centers."
Did I give you enough time to-
I was going to say, you did
great, because really what it comes down to is the fact that from a
ComEd perspective, when any customer comes to us, we have an obligation to serve
them.
And so if they want to have a new business, we call it new business
project, in a certain area, what we will look
at is what is it that we have to do on the distribution side to deliver that or the
transmission side to deliver that.
On the generation or the source of the power that they need to operate,
that will come from a third party because we just pass that through.
We don't control that side of it. So what you're really
seeing is that, and by the way, Chair, you did a great job,
because at the end of the day, what we're trying to control is making sure that
when these new business projects come to us, that they're real and
that those customers are paying
for the investment that's needed.
And that's what we put into place with some protection and tariffs that we're going
to share a little bit more information with you on that was approved by the
ICC in March. So those are the protections that make sure that we're
limiting cost shifts and the customers are paying their fair share for
the
request that they're bringing to us to connect to the system.
But what you do see that we
are kind of monitoring and working with the customers, it's around
timing. How soon can your project come online?
And that's going to be a matter of the work that we have to do to the
system to enable and to connect, but it also depends on
will there be resources there. And then that's when we talked about this integrated
resource plan. The integrated resource plan will be really
managed through the ICC process, but it's really designed to say,
where do we see, based upon our projections, shortfalls, and
how do we solve for that? And so it's not exactly saying
we're putting a cap on it, but what it's saying is
the timeline in which you can connect to the system will
be dictated by the timing it takes to make sure that there's
resources available and that all the work can be conducted in the time periods
you need.
Okay. Thank you for that. I think that there is a lot more conversations to have
around this, both with ComEd and with all of the levels of
government that are going to be responsible for
overseeing sustainability. And yes, I do understand that
there is a responsibility to serve customers, and also there is a responsibility
to make sure that we're using resources in a way that is sustainable and that will
allow us to continue to be alive. So,
I would love to continue that conversation.
Yeah. And maybe I'll ask this in the form of a question.
So if we wanted to, through this committee, let's say, continue that
conversation, and this is both for ComEd and our Department of
Environment, immediately comes to mind would be obviously state
partners and probably the ICC. Can you think of any
other kind of bodies or entities
that if we wanted to have a conversation of, hey,
should our state, can our state, and at some point may it
become necessary within our state for us to have some state
level control on these large scale users,
some kind of caps or controls even just on when they come in the system?
So can you think of other groups other than our state and the ICC
that could be a part of that conversation in a regulatory sense?
Well, they kind of already are. So you've named them.
The other one I would say is the Illinois Power Agency, who deals with
the procurement. And if I take you back to the governor's state of the state
speech, he did talk about pausing the
incentive for data centers because he wanted to
probably start looking at what needs to be done,
and probably assess a little bit this very question.
So, I think it's probably on their mind as well.
Thank you for that.
Alder Conway.
Is...
Here's the stipulation. You get to ask a question as long as you
stay through adjournment, so I have somebody that can-
Can make the motion? All right. Yeah.
That is a fair trade, and I do want to tell you, I appreciate the data
center conversation as we're in the process of turning the CBOE
into about a 30 megawatt data center now.
Now, I know we have the power,
the electrical power, to do that downtown, but that's obviously not the case
everywhere.
A question I always ask in this hearing,
and I've gotten answers, oddly enough, all over the place, is
this is for the ComEd Exelon folks: Are you and the grid prepared for the
summer,
and why or how do you know that?
I'll go ahead and take that. Mark Baranick again, Senior Vice President of Tech
Services at ComEd. And
the simple answer is yes.
So we absolutely are ready for summer,
and we have rigorous processes where we take a look
at modeling and forecasting and where we might see
stresses due to summer heat and storms.
Those have all transpired and taken place.
Any sort of corrective or preventive maintenance
that is critical for summer, that's been performed.
We do drills with our teams to ensure that when
emergencies and weather hits, that we're ready to respond.
We have other things, like every size and type of generator
that we've done testing to ensure they're ready and any maintenance that
they're prepared for
summer. We've gone through inventory levels and
ensuring that emergency stocking
for these types of events is there.
We have rigorous flood mitigation steps that we do
inspections on our substations and ensure all of those systems are in place.
And I think we've even seen that over the last month with
the torrential downpours. We didn't experience
any significant types of
impacts to the grid with those
flooding issues. I'll give you another data point.
Even this year-
Love the numbers. So yeah, some numbers on brownout levels or anything like that
would be helpful, but yeah, please.
Even this year, we've already had nine reportable
storms, and those are by definition as to what we submit to the commission.
And out of those nine reportable storms, we've been able to
restore 99% of our customers in those nine storms within
24 hours.
Significant number more than what we've seen in the last five
to seven-year average. And then, certainly, just the
reflection of the reliability in general that we've shared earlier and in
the reports that were submitted to the city, I think is a reflection of the
preparedness that we've had.
Mark, the capacity projects.
And certainly the capacity projects.
We touched a little bit with the previous question earlier in the session
where
we do, we take a look at the forecasted loads for circuits and substations
and ensure that we are well ahead of when we
expect that increase in load, both from new business as
well as just normal usage and electrification,
that those projects are complete prior to summer.
Well, that's great. Thank you, Mark, and thank you, Madam Chair.
And I'll just add, David did cover in opening statements some
of the SAFI and CATI numbers, and then the request was made through the chair to
get the data by ward.
And I think he's not here anymore, but Alder Lawson got on the record that
all of our wards are overperforming.
So pat on the back.
Thank you.
Good. Overperforming lots, who knows?
But I'd be curious to see what that is.
And that was an impressive stat regarding the
tough weather we've had already this year and how fast we're able to get people
back up. So thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Thank you, sir. Absolutely.
I want to thank ComEd team. I want to
thank our Department of Environment team for being here.
I'm going to give a special shout-out to Corey, Keisha, and Omar.
Thank you guys for being amazing partners and helping us to prepare, make sure we
get the questions together. I want to thank my committee members, who I
guess we decided we were working shifts today.
I feel like we had almost everybody actually attend today,
just in shifts. So however we get it done, we're getting it done.
I appreciate that.
So having no more questions, this concludes the items before our committee today.
We'll send out any answers to questions that were not answered through the chair.
And
with no further business, could I have a motion to adjourn?
So moved. Alder Rodriguez Sanchez so moves.
It is 11:56 before noon, guys. This is my gift
to you. Don't say I never gave you anything.
Hearing no objections, so ordered.
Meeting on our Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy is
adjourned. Thank you all.
Thank you.
Yeah. I'm like everyone